Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi defends decision to cancel Center for Racial Justice

Facing backlash over her cancellation of a center devoted to research on racial justice, Penn State University President Neeli Bendapudi said Friday she would still prioritize racial equity, including by measuring the university’s retention of students of color and the diversity of its faculty.

During a town hall hosted by the university’s faculty senate, Bendapudi tried to reassure faculty members who questioned her rationale for reversing course on plans to create a Center for Racial Justice, an announcement that came days after the university called off a comedy show featuring the founder of the far-right group the Proud Boys.

Rather than create a new academic center, Bendapudi, who took over in July, said she had determined the university should instead focus on existing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and set “concrete metrics” around closing racial gaps in graduation rates and recruiting and promoting diverse staff members.

“These concerns are genuine. I’m saying, hold me accountable to the outcomes,” said Bendapudi, who is Penn State’s first female president and first president of color. “Give me time, give me a little grace. The timing of the whole thing was terrible and I know how much pain it caused.”

Bendapudi disclosed last month that Penn State would not be moving forward with the center, a move that drew criticism from more than 400 faculty members who signed a letter accusing the university of “backsliding” on racial justice issues.

The center, announced last year by former president Eric Barron, grew out of the university’s response to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 and stemmed from a yearlong review into racism and bias at the university.

“At a time of rising racial inequality and intensifying racial injustice, Penn State leadership has decided to turn its back on research to address and potentially positively impact the realities of racial injustice,” the faculty letter said.

On Friday, Bendapudi expressed some skepticism about the value of a research center in improving racial equity at the university.

“Frankly, every single university is establishing these centers,” she said. While “I think that’s a great idea, I also worry that is not necessarily what will move the needle for us.”

Bendapudi said she would report back to faculty in early 2023 about her review of the university’s existing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Jennifer Hamer, a newly appointed special adviser to the president for institutional equity, also participated in the town hall and said she was tasked with not just evaluating those existing efforts, but determining how “we center equity in everything we do.”

According to members of the search committee tasked with selecting the new center’s director, Bendapudi cited budget concerns when she informed the committee that she wasn’t moving forward with the center.

But in announcing the center’s cancellation, the university said it would spend “at least as much” on existing DEI initiatives as it would have on the racial justice center over the next five years.

That explanation “was frustrating for a lot of us,” Joshua Inwood, a geography professor and senior research associate in Penn State’s Rock Ethics Institute who served on the search committee, said in an interview. “Is it that you have no money, or different priorities?”

When asked Friday the amount of resources Bendapudi was willing to commit to antiracist initiatives, she noted the school’s budget deficit. “I am saying that as we figure out a path forward, we will make it a priority. ... If I give a number now, I’m making it up,” Bendapudi said.

The letter from faculty members said the decision to scrap the center had added “to a long list of broken promises on issues of racial justice by Penn State.”

It noted that the cancellation followed what it called a “disturbing” response by the university to a campus event featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. Penn State called off the event — a comedy show being hosted by a conservative student club — amid what university officials said was “a threat of escalating violence.”

In an Oct. 25 message to the community, Bendapudi faulted McInnes and far-right personality Alex Stein — whose views she called “abhorrent” — for contributing to violence during student protests. But she also said the protesters had “furthered the visibility of the very cause they oppose,” and said the university needed to maintain a commitment to free expression.

In their letter, faculty members said Bendapudi had taken a “both-sides-are-to-blame” approach that echoed former president Donald Trump’s “There are good people on both sides” comments after white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.

With the announcement days later canceling the center, “those protesting the university’s complacency in the face of racism saw yet another indication of how much they matter to the powers that be on campus,” the letter said.

Asked Friday how the university would continue to attract students and faculty from underrepresented communities despite the optics of the center’s cancellation, Bendapudi said it was up to everyone — staff, faculty, and students — to communicate the work they’re doing.

”That will take all of us,” she said.