I didn't write the threatening letter that was sent to a black student leader last Friday, but I'm willing to admit that it's my fault that it happened. As a Penn State student, I am part of a community that must, in some way, encourage this type of behavior. There must be something about this university that makes people feel that writing hate mail and threatening the lives of minority students is something that is fathomable, tolerated and even supported by some us.

As a university body, we have not taken a strong enough stand against racism and hatred because there are people out there who think Penn State is a "white academy." They're right. Minorities groups at Penn State are just that, minorities, and the white majority as a whole has not embraced diversity on campus, as evidenced in the "Racism at Penn State" section of the Collegian. Our attitudes and our actions or failure to act when it comes to the racist beliefs that exist here at Penn State create an environment that perpetuates hate. Students at a school as remarkable as Penn State deserve to be a part of community that is accepting of racial diversity. As a university, we are failing miserably in this respect, and if we aren't going to do something to change it, we might as well have signed our names to the letters that Daryl Lang received last Friday.