Dear Editors of The Daily Collegian,

As faculty of The Pennsylvania State University, we offer our unequivocal support for students who opposed the commemoration of Joe Paterno on Sept. 17. We especially admire the students responsible for The Daily Collegian’s editorial on Sept. 2, and we salute the good sense—and considerable courage—of Opinions Editor Lauren Davis.

We note with anger and sorrow that Davis has met with vicious, personal threats that are toxic to the climate of our campus. We brook no compromise when it comes to the safety of our students, and we tolerate no action that would curtail the right of students to dissent from administrative policy or campus consensus. Retaliation, especially of the kind directed at Davis, provides pernicious cover for the spread of misogyny and sexual violence on a campus where these are already of grave concern. We must therefore be vigilant in our opposition to it. To do otherwise would be to default on our responsibility as teachers.

We call upon the university's central administration and Board of Trustees to join us in condemning the hostile reaction to Davis, which The New York Times has called—with good reason—"groupthink at its worst." We hope students will join us as well, in following Penn State President Eric Barron's recent call to "establish Penn State as a leader in making campuses safer."

Sincerely,

Jonathan E. Abel, Director of Global Studies, and Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Asian Studies

Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez, Lecturer of English

Magalí Armillas-Tiseyra, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature

Kevin Bell, Associate Professor of English

R. Thomas Berner, Professor Emeritus of Journalism and American Studies

Michael Bérubé, Director, Institute for the Arts and Humanities, and Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature

Hester Blum, Associate Professor of English

Mindy Boffemmyer, Undergraduate Director, Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Claire M. L. Bourne, Assistant Professor of English

Erica Brindley, Professor of Asian Studies and History

Peter Buckland, Penn State's Sustainability Institute, Affiliate Faculty in Educational Theory and Policy

Christopher Castiglia, Liberal Arts Research Professor, English and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

John Christman, Professor of Philosophy, Political Science and Women's Studies

Geoff Clegg, Lecturer of English

Claire Colebrook, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English

Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Associate Professor of Communications

Brian A Curran, Professor of Art History

Lorraine Dowler, Associate Professor of Geography

Rosa Eberly, Associate Professor, CAS and English, former Collegian News Editor and former Chair of the Board of Directors of Collegian, Inc

Jonathan Eburne, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and English

Nergis Ertürk, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature

Lee Samuel Finn, Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics

Jackie Gianico, Lecturer in Applied Linguistics

Leland Glenna, Associate Professor of Rural Sociology

Debra Hawhee, McCourtney Professor of Civic Deliberation, Professor of English and Communication Arts and Sciences

Laura Jones, Interim Associate Director of the Program of Writing and Rhetoric

Matt Jordan, Associate Professor, Media Studies

Julia Spicher Kasdorf, Professor of English and Women's Studies, Director of Creative Writing

Paul M. Kellermann, Senior Lecturer in English

Julie Kleinman, Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies and African Studies

Gretchen Kuldau, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology

Brian Lennon, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature

John Lipski, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Spanish and Linguistics

Janet Lyon, Associate Professor of English

Marco A. Martínez, Lecturer in Spanish

Matthew P. McAllister, Professor and Graduate Programs Chair, College of Communications

Anne McCarthy, Assistant Professor of English

Heather McCoy, Senior Lecturer, French and Francophone Studies

Marianna Nadeu, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Linguistics

Aldon Lynn Nielsen, Kelly Professor of American Literature

Mary Beth Oliver, Distinguished Professor, College of Communications

Brandon Pettit, Lecturer in English

Esther Prins, Associate Professor of Lifelong Learning and Adult Education

Christopher Reed, Professor of English and Visual Culture; Affiliate Faculty in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Benjamin Schreier, Director, Jewish Studies Program; Associate Professor of English and Jewish Studies

Hoda El Shakry, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature

Shuang Shen, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature

Judith Sierra-Rivera, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latina/o Studies

Pia Smal, Instructor, Rehabilitation and Human Services

Scott Smith, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature

Stephanie Snider, Associate Professor of Art

Anita Starosta, Senior Lecturer in English

Lior Sternfeld, Assistant Professor of History and Jewish Studies

Lisa Sternlieb, Associate Professor of English

S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor, College of Communications

Christina Taheri, Lecturer of English

Christine Marmé Thompson, Professor of Art Education, Affiliate Faculty in Rock Ethics Institute

Matt Tierney, Assistant Professor of English

Rena Torres Cacoullos, Professor of Spanish and Linguistics

Adam J. Toth, Lecturer of German

Sarah J. Townsend, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese

Daniel Tripp, Lecturer of English

Maria Truglio, Associate Professor of Italian and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Raymond Watkins, Lecturer in English

Jill M. Wood, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies