Two competitive virtual chats discussed Penn State's DEIB progress

On Thursday, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi hosted an online update on the status of the university's diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) goals. At the same time, the Coalition for an Equal College organized a protest event to protest the president's lack of ways to ask questions or participate in the event. During the president's virtual chat, she spoke with Jennifer Hamer, the university's special adviser on institutional justice, about Bendapudi's diversity goals and the feedback they've received from the faculty. staff and employees. More improvements are needed, Hamer said, but the initiatives are still important to university leadership. "People assume that Penn State doesn't really do much about diversity, equity, inclusion or belonging, or that Penn State doesn't care about diversity, equity, and inclusion, and I think that's even better. far from the truth." Hammer said. The organizers of the protest event, a conference, disagree. They say there is a lack of communication between Penn State authorities and professors trying to voice their concerns. Gary King, professor of biological behavioral health and African American studies, was the keynote speaker of the lecture. He says he found disturbing trends when he did a study of Black Penn State professors for his "More Rivers to Cross" work; report. "What we found was some very surprising information regarding experiences at Penn State that involved racism." said the king. "We presented these two reports to the university. We have not received a response from the university for more than two years. King said that DEIB's work has been an uphill battle. He said progress was made. to the Center for Racial Justice that getting rid of the college would be a good start.