At yesterday’s IUP Council of Trustees meeting, racism was once again addressed as another racist action has made the rounds on social media.
During his report, IUP President Michael Driscoll announced that another racist picture taken on campus has made the rounds of SnapChat. Driscoll said that the incident did spark some great discussion between his office and the African-American community. Driscoll added that the discussion is far from over, but he was happy the way the University’s African-American leaders approached the issue with him.
The issue of racist social media posts came up in 2015 after a different picture made the rounds on SnapChat in December of 2015. Since then, the issue of racism has been a focal point of Driscoll’s administration, which has lead to campus-wide discussions and the formation of several groups concerned with racial equality.
In other business, Driscoll said that over the last two school years, there has been a reduction in staff, but it has been in relation to the declining student population. Over 40 people were let go from IUP over the last two years.
Driscoll added that while this year’s student population is a little bit less than last year, the freshman class is one of the largest in recent history. He expects firm numbers on this year’s student population soon.
