IUP, state system roiled by former student's racist social media post

The chairwoman of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education on Thursday condemned a racist social media post made earlier this month by a former Indiana University of Pennsylvania student.

The student posted the racist message in response to a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before a men’s basketball game on campus on Feb. 8. The song is often referred to as the Black national anthem.

The IUP student newspaper, The Penn, captured and published an image of the message, which was partly obscured. It read: “You (racial slur) don’t deserve your own National Anthem.”

The student who made the post is no longer enrolled at IUP, according to university spokeswoman Michelle Fryling.

On Thursday, Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira opened the state system’s quarterly board meeting by calling the post “disgusting.”

“This is something that I have witnessed wearing other hats and in other parts of my life,” she told the board regarding the IUP incident. “It is completely unacceptable.”

In recent years, state system leaders said they have intensified efforts to combat racism on campuses. The system last year hired Denise Pearson as a vice chancellor and chief officer of diversity, equity and inclusion. On Thursday, the board adopted a resolution to support policies and other actions that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the system of about 85,000 students.

“Increasingly, we live amongst people who look and think like we do. We engage in social media with people who think like we do … (they are) echo chambers,” said Chancellor Daniel Greenstein said. “Universities are not that … they can begin to help people who are increasingly drawing apart from each other.”

Professor Moses Phillips, a guest lecturer from Medgar Evers College, City University of New York, had led the performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and was joined by students and others, including IUP President Michael Driscoll, to celebrate Black History Month.

Driscoll took to the school’s website and YouTube to respond to the racist post.

“Unfortunately, some of us didn’t get the message that this anthem is really for all of us, a call to action to move forward together in unity,” the president said. “I’m very disappointed that a student chose to make an offensive, hateful, racist Snapchat in the moment of the performance. It’s not what we are about at IUP. It is very upsetting and it’s completely inappropriate.”

Condemnation of the racist post spread quickly.

“This is not an isolated incident,” state Sen. Art Haywood, D-Philadelphia, said in a statement. “There is a pattern of racial discrimination and harassment on college campuses and in their surrounding communities in Pennsylvania. These reprehensible actions create pain and trauma for all students, especially students of color.”