Today, as many of you know, is Juneteenth — a day that commemorates the end of slavery throughout the United States… or something like that. It is also a day that has been designated by the cultural gatekeepers and the entitled masses for awareness and education on race issues, past and present. Of course, this forces me, as the leader for this entire university, to take the time to say something about it. This is a time to reflect on our values. There are six.
Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles when it is convenient, and/or when the need to placate the student body arises.
Respect: due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, and traditions of the majority.
Responsibility: the state of being accountable or to blame for something only when it doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable.
Discovery: the act of learning that Juneteenth exists.
Excellence. the quality of being outstanding or extremely good (but this one is pretty hard so don’t worry about it too much).
Community: a feeling of fellowship between our students by virtue of the fact that you all owe us money.
This is a time to also value inclusion, equality, and justice, three more abstract words that sound good. I’m sure informed students such as yourselves, who pay so much to attend our esteemed institution, know what these words mean. If not, I have generously provided this resource for your perusal. It certainly helped me learn a lot more about Juneteenth when I heard about it for the first time two days ago.
June 19, also called Emancipation Day, was designated in 2019 in Pennsylvania by Tom Wolf as Juneteenth National Freedom Day, allowing the Commonwealth to join 48 other states in recognizing it as a state holiday or special observance day. In doing so, I am now also obligated to formulate an articulate explanation recursively reaffirming its existence as a means to virtue signal that #We(C)are. Thanks, Tom!
Though most Penn State students are not in class for the summer and may or may not be for the foreseeable future — who’s to say? 🤭 — members of the Penn State community across the commonwealth (not me though) continue to engage in dialogue about recent not-so-ideal events, Black Lives Matter, systematic racism pervading the 400 year old institution that is America, and what it truly means to be a welcoming community while still maintaining a sizable white plurality. Our University Libraries has*** compiled a listing of resources, including books, articles, films, artifacts and more. I am told that this list is actually pretty good. I am sure I will get around to clicking on some of the links at some point, but once this letter goes out, my hands will likely be occupied for some hours as I pat myself on the back.
I hope that everyone (excluding me) can take the time today to consider what role we each can play to further the goals of diversity, equity and opportunity for all, and perhaps participate in some aspect of the recently announced initiatives aimed at fighting ignorance (TBD) and modeling inclusivity (also TBD) in our communities. I was inspired by our empty campus when I made these promises.
As you embrace this day, and only this day, just one day, which is today, of education and reflection, I look forward to what I hope will be numerous informed and engaged future conversations with all of you. I am extremely accessible; just drop by at my office at Room 1 Old Main (if you have trouble finding Room 1, it’s the bell tower). Office hour is held 1:30pm – 1:35pm every odd Thursday unless otherwise noted and also subject to change.
Thank you and Go Lions!
Eric J. Barron
President
*A note from PHROTH: We are aware that this article is not five paragraphs. In fact, it is six paragraphs and a list. This is one paragraph and one list longer than Barron’s actual message.
**Another note from PHROTH: Sometimes the jokes write themselves. See Barron’s original message concerning Juneteenth – posted a day early. We assume he thought “it could be anywhere from the 13th to the 19th,” and just posted it when he felt like it.
***A final note from PHROTH: It seems subject-verb agreement is just as important to our University as protecting black students.
