PASSHE Institutions Merging

[IUPNation]

California Borough is a hostile enough environment towards college students in general, much less for Black college students. This report is not surprising, especially since Cal Boro is one of the most depressing college towns I've ever seen in my life. And I had the misfortune to live there for three years. Some of the businesses were borderline hostile in general towards Cal U students, regardless of race. That's not to say there isn't racism out there, but it's a general distrust and hatred towards the university that seemed to drive a lot of those incidents, though the racial component adds to the deserved reputation Cal Boro gets.

Why would you be hostile to the entity that is basically keeping your town from sinking?

Without that campus it’s basically Monesson.

[iupgroundhog]

Yeah that report from Senator Haywood was difficult to read. It specifically points out,

"Following the ENOUGH tour, Clarion, California, Edinboro (PennWest University) and Mansfield (part of Commonwealth University) were found to have the most egregious accounts of racism and should be considered hostile environments for Black and Brown students."

How can I access the report?

Saying it's a hostile environment for black and brown students is probably way over the line legally.

[Fightingscot82]

California Borough is a hostile enough environment towards college students in general, much less for Black college students. This report is not surprising, especially since Cal Boro is one of the most depressing college towns I've ever seen in my life. And I had the misfortune to live there for three years. Some of the businesses were borderline hostile in general towards Cal U students, regardless of race. That's not to say there isn't racism out there, but it's a general distrust and hatred towards the university that seemed to drive a lot of those incidents, though the racial component adds to the deserved reputation Cal Boro gets.

I'll be honest, Edinboro surprised me. It is a blue island in a sea of red rural NWPA. There are clear non-white families living in the community. But once you're outside town you're on rural roads with occasional houses in between farm fields. I've spent most of my life either living in Edinboro or being a very engaged, frequent visitor and never once witnessed racial hostility.

One of the challenges of where our schools tend to be located is worlds colliding. You have three main groups of students: mostly white kids from cosmopolitan middle class suburbia, almost exclusively white kids from rural & small working class towns, and Black students from predominantly Black communities. Three very different home environments. I can't imagine what its like going from a place where most people look & act like me to a place that not only doesn't look like home but I'm suddenly not looking or acting like most others. Even a modestly welcoming campus environment changes when you walk across the street to the off campus community.

[Bart]

California Borough is a hostile enough environment towards college students in general, much less for Black college students. This report is not surprising, especially since Cal Boro is one of the most depressing college towns I've ever seen in my life. And I had the misfortune to live there for three years. Some of the businesses were borderline hostile in general towards Cal U students, regardless of race. That's not to say there isn't racism out there, but it's a general distrust and hatred towards the university that seemed to drive a lot of those incidents, though the racial component adds to the deserved reputation Cal Boro gets.

It is in a democratic county though.

[Ship69]

California Borough is a hostile enough environment towards college students in general, much less for Black college students. This report is not surprising, especially since Cal Boro is one of the most depressing college towns I've ever seen in my life. And I had the misfortune to live there for three years. Some of the businesses were borderline hostile in general towards Cal U students, regardless of race. That's not to say there isn't racism out there, but it's a general distrust and hatred towards the university that seemed to drive a lot of those incidents, though the racial component adds to the deserved reputation Cal Boro gets.

Had the occasion to travel through Brownsville, not far from California, in about the late '80s. At the time a movie featuring Robert Mitchum that was set in the '40s was filming there. Part of the reason they picked the town was that the look of the downtown still hadn't changed much from 40-some years earlier. Obviously the area had seen better days.

[ctrabs74]

Yeah that report from Senator Haywood was difficult to read. It specifically points out,

"Following the ENOUGH tour, Clarion, California, Edinboro (PennWest University) and Mansfield (part of Commonwealth University) were found to have the most egregious accounts of racism and should be considered hostile environments for Black and Brown students."

California Borough is a hostile enough environment towards college students in general, much less for Black college students. This report is not surprising, especially since Cal Boro is one of the most depressing college towns I've ever seen in my life. And I had the misfortune to live there for three years. Some of the businesses were borderline hostile in general towards Cal U students, regardless of race. That's not to say there isn't racism out there, but it's a general distrust and hatred towards the university that seemed to drive a lot of those incidents, though the racial component adds to the deserved reputation Cal Boro gets.

[Fightingscot82]

As the demographics for school-age kids veer more toward minorities than usual, it's entirely possible that a reputation for being inhospitable to minorities will lead to a further loss in enrollment. I know at Ship probably about 15 percent of the undergrads are minority students now, and they're making extensive efforts to recruit in the Philadelphia area and other urban settings. That is a far, far cry from when I went there in the '60s and they maybe had two dozen black students on campus, if that. I had grown up in heavily white suburban areas and a conversation about jazz with a black guy in my dorm during freshman year was probably the first extended conversation I ever had with a black person.

Yeah that report from Senator Haywood was difficult to read. It specifically points out,

"Following the ENOUGH tour, Clarion, California, Edinboro (PennWest University) and Mansfield (part of Commonwealth University) were found to have the most egregious accounts of racism and should be considered hostile environments for Black and Brown students."

[Ship69]

For one, Farrell's desire to move to the WPIAL was partially motivated by racist incidents: https://www.sharonherald.com/news/fa...a25242514.html

Southern Columbia was the epicenter of an investigation around their title game against Westinghouse last year: https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/n...e-title-games/

Even just last month there was an incident at Altoona: https://www.altoonamirror.com/news/l...cial-incident/

The fact is, that these types of issues have plagued much of rural Pennsylvania for many years. Kids grow up in it, and then some of them bring it to college with them. It's on school administrations to act effectively and decisively in order to prevent these things from developing into a campus culture.

One of my wife's relatives coached basketball at his rural high school for many years. Unlike most schools in the area, he often had 2-3 black players on his team. One night at an away game some years back his team took the floor to be greeted by several of the home school's student wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods. There's obviously no way that offense could be swept under the rug as unintentional, as the offending school often tries to plead in many of these incidents.

[Ship69]

However, this type of research needs to be scrutinized. Not saying it doesn't reflect reality. There are a lot of factors that go into this and if I had to guess which schools would come out with the worst ratings without seeing this study I think I would be correct.

Remember to not confuse correlation with causation, For example, these 4 campuses have lost some of the highest percentages of students, so could it be true that those remaining are skewed towards locals more? Could a factor be the nature of the greater community, including outside of the campus?

Furthermore, this is qualitative research which always comes with a caveat that the conclusions are not necessarily statistically projectable. This article states that the results are in opposition to a quantitative survey done in 2022 and claims that this is the real deal because "participants didn't just fill in blanks." That is clearly debatable.

How in-depth did the questioners probe? The specific incidents mentioned in the article are terrible but they are anecdotal.

As the demographics for school-age kids veer more toward minorities than usual, it's entirely possible that a reputation for being inhospitable to minorities will lead to a further loss in enrollment. I know at Ship probably about 15 percent of the undergrads are minority students now, and they're making extensive efforts to recruit in the Philadelphia area and other urban settings. That is a far, far cry from when I went there in the '60s and they maybe had two dozen black students on campus, if that. I had grown up in heavily white suburban areas and a conversation about jazz with a black guy in my dorm during freshman year was probably the first extended conversation I ever had with a black person.

[Fightingscot82]

University of Arizona has a $177 million deficit.

Jamestown Business College in Jamestown, NY is closing.

[GregD]

But you know that having lived in Lock Haven and Indiana. You go a few hundred yards from campus and you swear you're having a Deliverance dream.[/QUOTE]

Good to know you know everyone living there so you can characterize an entire area with your version of their reality.

[IUPNation]

Ship is located in one of the most consistently red areas of the state.

Indiana County isn’t known for its progressive nature. I was fashionably preppy in the 80’sxsnd got more than my fair share of angry stares from the locals and students from all the Hootervilles across the commonwealth ….especially when I wore pink and green..which was total
prep!

The four years I lived in Indiana be the only four years of my life where I live somewhere that is that heavily conservative. Chester County was always majority Republican until Fat Nixon came along and turned it blue…

[IUPNation]

Oh? I actually didn't know which school she had attended until I looked it up.

I just knew it was going to be the answer.

[Fightingscot82]

I don't recall all of the details but a year or 2 ago there was an egregious act of hate at IUP (didn't it happen at a BB game?) and the President took decisive and appropriate action which was supported by the IUP community, in general. The message was unambiguous. That's one. Those are the kinds of acts that strengthen the culture. But to a great extent, I think you would find differences at the university level, e.g. on-campus groups and activities that strengthen the culture. If those kinds of things are absent, a different culture can take hold.

Yeah the student(s) who posted bigoted reactions to the IUP choir singing Lift Every Voice and Sing at the basketball game kicking off Black History Month. IUP has also had some student groups connected to right wing operatives. The ones who throw grenades on Twitter and seem to try to get invited to speak on campus only for the furor it causes from opposing viewpoints. This generation's Ann Coulter.

Administrators can condemn things like that, but no matter what political talk says, they can't make students or employees complete DEI training or block certain people from speaking on campus. Actually, all PASSHE campuses are free and open to all like a state park. They can't block anyone from doing legal stuff on campus unless they're a proven threat or they violate university usage policy. The KKK can hold an unannounced rally on Cheyney's campus and the school can't do crap until someone breaks a usage policy or the law. To some that forced viewpoint neutrality is taking a position. Its also the irony of the governor telling schools they have to punish antisemitism when hate speech has been consistently upheld as first amendment protected speech. Can you tell this is in my professional wheelhouse? LOL

I agree that the locations of (most) PASSHE schools make that difficult. At Slippery Rock, about 1 in 6 students are from Butler County, which has sprawling Cranberry, rusting Butler, and rural towns like Prospect and, well, Slippery Rock. They also pull lots of students from more diverse places where they go from being the ethnic (and cultural) majority to suddenly being not. SRU is not a very political campus, but a generally tolerant neutral college campus is going to seem far left to a rural farming town with a social media using mayor who plays around with right wing operatives. Drag Bingo for legal consenting adults might as well be an abortion fair. But you know that having lived in Lock Haven and Indiana. You go a few hundred yards from campus and you swear you're having a Deliverance dream.

[EastStroud13]

However, this report is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. PHRC serves an important role. As an employer, I have dealt with the PHRC and realize that their reason to exist is to find discrimination. Just something to think about. I think the conclusions in the report are mostly correct but there are some different angles to consider, too.

This is a good point. A grain of salt is warranted (though, not as large a grain as is needed when it comes to campuses self-reporting).