As a student here at Penn State, I understand that racism is a problem at our school and commend those who look to abolish this hate at our campus. However, I cannot condone the way in which people choose to do so. Marching into Old Main with a list of demands and no willingness to negotiate will not help anyone and will simply lead to the university dismissing the issue as a whole. In addition, I do not see how some of the demands will in any way alleviate the problem of racism. More scholarships for minority students is certainly a worthy cause, but it will just increase the size of the minority.

This in no way changes the underlying racism that many people exhibit. The same is true for an increase in the number of faculty members in the African and African American Studies Department. I am sure that those who are most racist are not first in line to sign up for those courses, regardless of the number offered. Racism is a problem that has existed as long as our country, and there is no quick fix. It is not a problem isolated to Penn State, and there is only so much the faculty and administration can do in an attempt to solve this problem.

In fact, it is likely that the problem will never truly be solved. There are many things to blame for racism in society today, like narrowmindedness and a lack of education, but I don't think Graham Spanier and his administration is one of them. Instead of attacking them, the effort instead should focus on finding the individual who wrote this detestable letter.