On a Pennsylvania Cable Network show Monday night, Penn State President Graham Spanier and two state legislators participated in a panel discussion about racism at Penn State, students' safety and the repercussions recent events may have on minority enrollment.

"It's (racism) always existed at a university like ours, and Penn State has been no exception," Spanier said.

The show aired as students remained camped out in the HUB-Robeson Center where they have been since Tuesday night. The sit-in, which participants have dubbed "the village," came after a racist death threat was sent to Black Caucus President Lakeisha Wolf.

Wolf participated in the live call-in discussion at one point in the evening, telling her view of the events at last Tuesday's "No Hate at Penn State" rally.

One of the show's first callers, who identified herself as the vice president of a minority student association at a Penn State branch campus, asked the group if they thought the threatening letters would drive minorities away from the university.

Rep. John Myers, D-Philadelphia, one of the two legislators participating in the panel, said minority students should still pursue an education at Penn State.

"If the students capitulate and leave the university, or the students' parents take the students out and we end up with no minority students at Penn State, then the racists win," he said.

Rep. Myers said he thinks the hate letters are part of a scheme to undermine diversity in Pennsylvania.

"I very strongly believe that this is not an individual that's doing this," he said. "I very strongly believe that this is an organized movement."

He said these "groups represent a threat to all college campuses" in Pennsylvania and people need to "bust 'em up."

Rep. LeAnna Washington, D-Philadelphia, the other legislator participating in the discussion, said she agreed with one of the Black Caucus proposals to begin diversity training. She said the university needed "cultural sensitivity training, from the president to the gardener to the trash man."

Rep. Washington has met with Black Caucus members, has seen their book of more than 250 records of racism on campus, and was one of the legislators who visited Penn State to discuss diversity initiatives on April 11.

She and Rep. Myers both cited particular entries from the log of racist incidents that they remembered specifically. They also said trusted members of the community might be perpetrators of racist acts. Myers said he thinks students perceive even local police as untrustworthy.

Spanier said that safety is a top priority right now, and talked about a meeting that police held in the HUB last night to discuss security and also other steps taken by the university.

"For right now, we want to make sure that the students can complete their exams and then move back," Spanier said about students leaving as the semester ends.

During the show, Wolf discussed how Spanier walked away from last Tuesday's rally when she was calling out to him, an action for which many students condemned the university president.

Spanier then apologized for the misunderstanding and gave his side of the story.

"I made eye contact with Lakeisha but I did not hear what she was saying," he said. "It is not in my nature to walk away or to be disrespectful."

Spanier said because the crowd was loud and Wolf's megaphone was turned in the opposite direction of him, he and other administrators who left with him were unable to hear her call.

Wolf also discussed new concerns for her own safety and that of students involved in the April 21 Blue-White game protest. The names and addresses of the 26 people arrested for refusing to leave the field of Beaver Stadium were printed in the Centre Daily Times Friday.

"I've now been put at an even greater risk . . . of being harmed or killed," she said.

In searching for ways to ease racial tensions at Penn State, Spanier again acknowledged racism has always been in existence, and is multifaceted.

"There's not going to be one answer to this," Spanier said. "It requires about 10 to 20 different answers all at once."

During the show, Spanier also talked about a mass e-mail that faculty, staff and students at all Penn State campuses received to help dispel rumors about the recent events.

Students in "the village" were unable to watch the broadcast because PCN is not a channel received on campus. However, some black Penn State students did call and identify themselves as such to Spanier.

One caller gave positive input about the students in the HUB.

"I just think that the conduct of the students has been great," the caller said. "I've walked through the HUB, I've watched the news programs and I see a group of students of every race standing together and trying to make a point."