Panther247 Board

Several things....

1) PSU is my alma mater, so if that throws any doubt or screams of 'bias' on the following, so be it.
2) If you don't think the type of stuff that goes on at PSU doesn't happen at nearly every college across the country - including Pitt - then you haven't been on a college campus in a long, long time. Stereotypes are stereotypes - they've been around for awhile, too. Whites can't jump or run, Hispanics are hard workers and do a lot of landscaping, Asians are good at math, etc. This is young kids being stupid, but nothing that would separate them from the millions of other young kids doing similar stupid things.
3) Central-PA, also where I'm from (about 45 minutes from PSU) is predominantly white. I had 4 black dudes in my Senior Class of 200. However, PSU's campus - which is bigger than my hometown and bigger than most towns in PA - is a diversified, melting pot (redundant? perhaps) that is the furthest thing from being declared hostile to minorities. It's not a racial place, it's not some backwoods college, and minorities have nothing to fear from going to PSU.
4) I cannot stand their football team nor the culture that Joe Paterno fostered as coach. There are plenty of things to criticize PSU about, including the obvious, including the hypocrisy of 'success with honor', including the *fact* that football players are still considered godly on campus, and, including the *fact* that their fanbase is the most delusional in the country.

But, implying (if not explicitly saying) that PSU is hostile to minorities or that minorities should fear going to PSU is hyperbole at best and ignorant and mean-spirited at worst. And, most importantly, not true.

SP

Sorry Shandy, I'm also from that area. Grew up in Altoona and spent a lot of time at PSU. The area (Pennsyltucky), not just PSU, has more than its share of racists and racial overtones. Just a couple weeks ago I was driving back to DC from Altoona and saw confederate flags flying outside the city. It's not being flown for southern heritage either. I'm not saying things are perfectly harmonious in Pittsburgh, or heck, even Philly or other cities, but it is way, way more of an issue in rural central PA.

If you want, I can link dozens of stories over the last 10-15 years of all the racial problems at Penn State. You can find confederate flags in the tailgate lots at Beaver Stadium. They have problems, there is no way around this.

I'm not suggesting things like this goofy halloween picture don't happen at a lot of places. This photo was a case of poor judgement and college students that, unbelievably, still don't understand the spotlight on their university, but Penn State is the furthest thing from a melting pot at a major university that I've ever seen in the North or West.

Now that said, do I not think black students should "fear" going to PSU or that they will be harassed. The incidents that make the news, while in greater number than other places, are more of the exception than the rule. But no, I don't think it is a diverse melting pot on par with other schools either. 4.3% black at University Park, the state flagship compared with 11.5% of total SAT takers in Pennsylvania self-identifying as black. Pitt, even though it is significantly more selective in admissions (unfortunately black students have the lowest mean SAT scores in all three subject categories), is better but only at 6.5% so I'm not suggesting it is perfect either.

Yes, like I said, there are dozens of articles over the last decade. And these were coming out of one of the most isolated and media restricted institutions in the country.

PSU has been long known as having serious racial issues. My entire family on wife's side graduated from that place as did my brother. I won't say who the coach was, but my HS QB ended up at Marshall because of the negative recruiting other college coaches use against PSU w/ regards to it being racist towards black athletes.

I've known several players up there that said it was a racist campus - several.

You just cited an example of how it is different than every single other northeastern, mid-atlantic, and Big 10 university. I've never seen a Confederate Flag at any football game north of the Mason Dixon line.

Sorry, you're going to have to take your rose colored glasses off here. The incident rates are way higher.

Google "Penn State racism".

Sampling of race issue stories:

Racial harassment at game:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/columns/heyl/s_709246.html

Hate letters to black players ignored
http://thegrio.com/2011/11/18/paterno-turns-a-blind-eye-to-racism-at-penn-state/

graffiti
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2009/01/21/students_report_incidents_of_r.aspx

UPUA diversity chairman racial epitaths
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2010/04/15/upua_student_life_and_diversit.aspx

Black student stabbed to death
http://www.marclamonthill.com/439-439

Black esperience at Penn State:
http://blackhistory.psu.edu/assets/pdf/Black_Experience_at_Penn_State_Penn_Stater_1989.pdf

Racism at PSU:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080609234552/http://www.black-collegian.com/news/special-reports/racism2001-1st.shtml

Blackface photo:
http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20031205psublacklocal6p6.asp

Black Penn State students demand protection:
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/05/01/penn.state.racism.02/

Black students find Penn State an uneasy fit
http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20010429psureg4.asp

Protest delay start of scrimmage:
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/psu/20010422psuside7.asp

No, most Penn State students are not racists. But there have been way more racial problems in recent history at Penn State than almost any other school that I can think of in the north. Sorry, that is the truth.

No, you just have an obsessive hatred for PSU so you spend all your free time digging up any story that paints PSU in some sort of negative light. I bet if you spent half as much time digging up similar stories from other northern schools(including Pitt), you would see that these kind of incidents happen everywhere.

I'm not saying racism doesn't happen have PSU, I have heard stories from others. I wanna say that I am black and a Penn State alum. I never had any issues while I was a student there. Again I'm not saying that it hasn't happened just saying from a personal standpoint.

Kijana: One doesn't have to dig them up. They're sprouting out of the ground all over the God forsaken place. Take off your sombrero and see the truth.

It's not the # of minorities that matters. Rather, how they're treated.

Yes, that's why a Hispanic group has to demonstrate.