PSU-AAUP has sent letters to President Percy about several important issues. We are still waiting for a reply on several, and in other instances, are disappointed by the actions of his administration. We are creating this space to keep you updated.
Research and Graduate Studies (RGS) Crisis
Staffing shortages have affected both people working in RGS and faculty who submit and manage grants. AAUP sent a letter to Interim President Percy on December 5, 2019, supporting faculty in their request to restaff the RGS office. To date, we have received no answer.
PSU Confucius Institute Fiasco
We have recently learned that the PSU Administration violated its obligation to the Faculty Senate, by proceeding to sign a new contract with the government of China to continue hosting the Confucius Institute. This contract (1) did not receive Faculty Senate approval, and (2) does not abide by the Faculty Senate conditions requiring protections of academic freedom for people working in the Confucius Institute. This is a shameful episode of disregard for the faculty role in shared governance.
PSU made a promise on the floor of the Faculty Senate to ensure the contract with the Confucius institute respected the scholarly freedom of faculty, repeatedly. Interim President Percy, and his predecessor, President Shoureshi, were asked many times, are you going to comply with the conditions set by the Faculty Senate before renewing a Confucius Institute contract with the Peoples’ Republic of China? They always said they would comply with the Faculty Senate resolution.
PSU-AAUP asked Interim President Percy the question again, at the first meeting of the Board of Trustees this academic year. The Faculty never received a public response from Percy.
Evisceration of Black Studies Department
We wrote a letter to Interim President Percy and Provost Jeffords on December 13, 2019, assailing the administration for cuts to the Black Studies Department that displayed a pretty blatant double standard being applied to that department (the hallmark of implicit institutional racism). Perhaps unintended, but with dire consequences for our campus climate. To date, we have received responses from neither the President nor the Provost. However, we have learned that in the last few days the Black Studies Department received communication that the tenure-track lines they lost this year will be replaced next academic year. This is good news, and we are cautiously optimistic that PSU may start to reverse the benign neglect of Black Studies, and the School of Gender, Race, and Nation, that we called out in our letter.
Percy’s Campus Security Plan
We wrote a letter to Interim President Percy on November 15, 2019, expressing the objections that faculty, staff, and students have to his campus security plan, unveiled at the October 2019 Board of Trustees meeting. A few weeks later, we finally did receive a response from Interim President Percy, where he respectfully shares his personal feelings — that he agonized over the plan, that he wants everyone to feel welcome at PSU. But the President, in his letter, largely avoids responding to the substantive concerns we raised for students, staff, and faculty. We can generally assume good intentions by us all, President Percy, but responsible leadership does not stop there. (Percy’s response).