Screen_shot_2015-12-01_at_2.28.58_PM.png
  • Facebook Cover Photo

A racist Facebook page called PSU White Student Union appeared online last week, prompting a Tues, Dec 1 event at Portland State University celebrating solidarity amongst students of color. The Facebook page also prompted PSU President Wim Wiewel to send a letter to PSU students endorsing the Tuesday event and letting everyone know no such union exists on the PSU campus.

The event, which starts at 4 pm and is called PSU Students of Color Speak Out, is the last event during a "day of listening, learning, and leading to celebrate solidarity," according to the event page.

Melika Belhaj, one of the event's organizers, says Weiwel sent the letter in response to students' demands he address the appearance of the Facebook page.

"The event this evening is a forum where students of color and student groups from our respective communities will share their needs to Mr. Wiewel and the Board of Trustees," Belhaj wrote in an email. "We will read aloud the letter we wrote to him during this time."

Wiewel's letter, which was sent on Nov 30, reads:


Dear students:

College campuses across the country, including Portland State, continue to experience heightened tensions about race and related issues. I want to restate that while PSU embraces academic freedom and free speech, there is no place on our campus for racism or any form of discrimination.

As you may have heard last week, a hate group from outside the state created a Portland State University “white student union” page on Facebook with racist and inflammatory comments that were offensive and violate all of our shared values. The group created similar pages that are falsely identified with dozens of other universities. There is no such student group on campus, and we requested that Facebook take down the page and remove all references to Portland State University. Those references were deleted. Social media, however, remains a challenge. We can manage our own sites to make sure that messages meet our non-discrimination standards but not the content on other sites. As I was preparing this letter, in fact, we discovered that another offensive and racist Facebook page was created, likely by the same people, and we are once again demanding that Facebook take it down and remove references to PSU.

We are committed to making PSU a safe and welcoming campus. If you think you have been targeted because of your race, ethnicity or any other prohibited discrimination please let me or Chief Diversity Officer Carmen Suarez know about it.

On Tuesday, a "Students of Color Speak Out: PSU" event is being organized by students at the Multicultural Center at Smith Student Union during the day and at the Smith ballroom at 4 p.m. We encourage students, staff and faculty to attend.

After more than a year of campus and community debate and discussion, we are finalizing a new five-year strategic plan for PSU that strongly emphasizes equity and inclusiveness, and I look forward to working together to achieve these goals.

Sincerely,
Wim Wiewel