In mid-June, Pennsylvania State University’s liberal arts department tweeted a statement affirming multiple student groups, including conservatives, who are often in the minority viewpoint.
The tweet began by saying “Dear students, each of you belongs here,” before listing several groups, starting with black students. “Your lives matter,” the tweet said. Here’s the rest of the tweet:
Dear Muslim and Jewish students,
Your beliefs are valued here.
Dear conservative students,
Your viewpoints are important.
Dear Latinx students,
You will not find walls here.
Dear female students,
You are respected.
Dear LGBTQ+ students,
You are supported here.
Dear international students,
You are welcome here.
Dear ALL students,
We are here to support and learn from one another.
Unfortunately for Penn State, viewpoint diversity is not tolerated, and students rushed to express their dismay for the department including conservative viewpoints alongside other groups.
“Conservatives in the United States do not live in a system that was built from the blood and trauma of their ancestors — a system that continues to put down people who look like [their ancestors] every day,” one student told The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s student newspaper.
“Black, Latinx, LGBTQ+, Muslim and Jewish individuals have to deal with [an environment] where a student can scream the N-word at protestors and draw a swastika for a ‘cute’ sorority squat picture and there are no consequences,” the student added.
Another student accused conservatives of being “some of the students that call us the N-word and show us firsthand what white supremacy really is.”
Many others simply repeated liberal stereotypes about conservatives to suggest they don’t care about minorities or women, including one person who said on social media, “penn state really addressed conservative students views being important while attempting to say ‘black lives matter’ i’m confused.” Another tweeted: “Penn state: conservative lives matter
us: uh no.”
Another Penn State student told the Collegian that Penn State was remaining “silent” about racism.
“Actions speak louder than words and right now, and Penn State’s silence is deafening,” the student said.
“This administration needs to combat racism with a comprehensive plan to uplift the Black community not only at University Park but at all commonwealth campuses, or else it will bring them unbearable consequences that will hurt them in the long run.”
The tweet was soon deleted.
Campus Reform, which recently reported on the incident, reached out to Penn State Director of Strategic Communications William Hessert, Jr, who told the outlet the tweet was deleted because even though its intent was “to express the inclusive, democratic and participatory values of the liberal arts,” the “message was not being received well and it is important for us that our messages be received as intended.”
“While we do not believe in deleting our posts, given the sensitivities of the matter we felt that it was better to remove it,” Hessert told the outlet.