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American Morning

Penn State Student, Official Discuss Death Threats Made Against African-American Students

Aired May 02, 2001 - 09:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Prayers and rallies against racism are held regularly on the campus of Penn State University. Many African- American students there say that they are afraid for their lives after receiving death threats.

LaKeisha Wolf says that she has been a target of these threats. She's the outgoing president of the Black Caucus student group at Penn State. She joins us now, live from State College, Pennsylvania, to share her story with us.

Thank you for talking with us this morning.

I've been getting bits and pieces about your story. I understand this stemmed, basically, from an editorial that you wrote back in the fall -- correct?

LAKEISHA WOLF, BLACK STUDENT CAUCUS: Yes, yes that's right. It seems that a lot of black students who have been in the spotlight this year have become targets of these death-threatening letters.

HARRIS: What do you mean by "in the spotlight"?

WOLF: We're talking about students who have had their names or pictures in the local newspapers, and also the black football players, who, obviously, are well-known in the community.

HARRIS: Is "players" plural?

WOLF: Yes. At least seven black football players have received these death-threatening letters.

HARRIS: So this has been no mystery. This is something that's been actually out in the open and talked about for some time?

WOLF: Yes and no. It's been known by the Black Caucus. We've actually been trying to bring light to these issues this whole entire year, but we haven't had a lot of cooperation from Penn State administration, the president, or police.

HARRIS: Let me ask you this, first of all. I understand you're a senior; you're about to graduate this spring. You've been there for at least 3 1/2 years now. Have you never seen anything like this or any sort of racial threats of any kind in the previous three years you've spent on campus? Is this something that's totally stemmed from your editorial?

WOLF: About a year ago, over 60 black students received racist e-mails, and I actually was one of those students. That was in fall of '99.

But this is the first time that I, personally, have ever seen something like this, having a whole lot of people getting these death- threatening letters at the same time. So whoever is sending these letters knows exactly what they're doing and how serious this is, and this person or group of people is very, very strategic.

HARRIS: Why do you think this is happening now? Are you getting any sense of any resentment being built up on campus amongst nonblack students because of what's going on and the stink that you all are raising with this sit-in you're having there in the building?

WOLF: Yes. Personally, I haven't left the building almost every day, except for coming here to this studio. I've heard a lot about black students actually being threatened while walking down the street, and there are actually a lot of fliers that have been posted on campus with derogatory statements about black students.

HARRIS: I'm sorry to cut you off, but we only have a little bit of time here.

I understand that the university has actually come forward and made some changes. I understand they've had meetings. They actually have come out and thanked the students like yourself for coming and raising this issue, because they're saying trying to create more diversity on campus. Aside from actually following through on the steps that they have followed through on -- by adding more studies on African-American issues and what not -- what more, besides your safety, could you be asking the university to do?

WOLF: Well, we've been asking the school for a system of accountability that they haven't yet agreed to.

But the most important thing right now is safety. I'm supposed to graduate on May 12, and there's been a bomb threat. And the police have only agreed to do a bomb sweep. They said that they're not going to have metal detectors or pat people down. Now anybody is actually open to coming inside; everybody's at risk right now. I really don't think that they're taking this as seriously as they could.

HARRIS: Why did you even stay?

WOLF: Because I really don't have anyplace to go right now. My personal information has been printed in the local newspaper. It's not safe for me to go home. I really don't have any place to go. And the only place I feel safe is with the other students in the Hetzel Union Building right now.

HARRIS: LaKeisha Wolf, we thank you much for you time this morning. We'll continue to follow the story and see how it all breaks down. Thanks much.

WOLF: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Students at Penn State University say that that university is not doing enough to calm racial fears that are running rampant on that campus right now.

Before the break, we heard from a student who says that she has received several threatening letters.

Now we want to hear from a university official about all this.

Bill Asbury is the vice president of student affairs at Penn State. He joins us now, live from State College, Pennsylvania.

Thank you, sir, very much for your time this morning.

First of all, you may have heard the comments, made earlier by LaKeisha Wolf, that this kind of thing has been happening for a long time on your campus. What's your response to that?

BILL ASBURY, PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, she's absolutely right about it. I think the history of the institution, if you go back far enough, even to the early days when the first African-American student that we know of attended this CNN ANCHOR: mpus -- a Mr. Johnson, in the early 1900s -- there were incidents that he reported in a series of articles back in 1988 and '89 that recorded racial epithets and incidents. And they've been recorded over the period of that timeframe.

I think what may be different about this set of circumstances is the direct death threat that LaKeisha received.

HARRIS: She's also mentioned something about a bomb threat that's supposed to hit graduation. Is the university prepared for that?

ASBURY: We are preparing, as she mentioned, a sweep of each of the separate graduations. Each of the colleges has a separate graduation, so there will be something like 12 or 13 graduations over the course of three days. Most of them are concentrated in two of our major buildings. Before each graduation ceremony, there will be a bomb sweep inside and outside of the buildings.

HARRIS: I'll have to ask you something, because LaKeisha mentioned there were several football players who have also been the targets of some of these threatening letters that have been received. I find that fairly interesting, because I'm sure the press would have found out something like that if that had happened, or happened during football season. How is it that that has been going on? We have not heard anything from any of the players or from Coach Paterno.

ASBURY: It's hard to say. I had not heard about the football players receiving anything that would be like a death threat, but some of them, apparently, have reported this and kept within the Athletic Department or just talked with other students. But it's hard for me, personally, to identify specific individuals who have received death threats. A couple of people have mentioned that they've handled it on their own. We know about the one student who was on the team last year, but I can't confirm or deny...

HARRIS: I have to tell you that LaKeisha has said, in other comments to us here at the network, that that is evidence to her and to others that there's something of a cover-up going on at Penn State about all this.

ASBURY: I don't think that that would be true, but I can't deny that there have been students, in fact, who are not athletes who have received threatening hate mail and letters, over the years, that have not been brought to the administration's attention. In many cases, we have had a situation where many of the students, for example, who received the hate e-mails, simply deleted them and didn't say anything about it. Others brought to the university's attention.

HARRIS: Let me ask you how in the world you all plan to get this problem settled. How can you bring the two sides together when we couldn't even bring you and LaKeisha together on the same set with us this morning.

ASBURY: Well, we, in fact, are on the same set. We just have different camera angles, as you know.

I think the discussions are, in fact, taking place. There just aren't any of what I would describe as negotiations. Those have, essentially, terminated, but there are still senior African-American faculty who are working with the administration and with the student leaders to try to come to a resolution of what is, essentially, the final stages of what I think is a plan to enhance diversity, and which have been published widely.

This matter of accountability is something that we are trying to address and will address seriously. We just have a difference of opinion about how to go about it.

HARRIS: It's understood.

Bill Asbury, vice president of student affairs at Penn State University, thank you very much for your time this morning. We wish you the best of luck in trying to solve this problem.

ASBURY: Thank you very much.

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