Editor’s Note: The perspectives and opinions printed in this Letter to the Editor are the views and statements of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the positions of Portland State Vanguard or its editorial staff. Some claims have not been independently verified by PSU Vanguard.
On Aug. 15, 2024, President Ann Cudd and Portland State University were notified that the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) was opening an investigation on the failure to respond to the harassment of Palestinian and Muslim students and faculty in a manner consistent with the requirements of Title VI.
Specifically, OCR is investigating the failure of PSU to respond appropriately to reports of antiPalestinian and Islamophobic flyers posted in a campus building.
As noted in the Oregonian (Aug. 8) and Vanguard (Sept. 20), over the summer, faculty, students and staff found and removed antiPalestinian flyers on the first floor of Cramer Hall.
To be clear, students, faculty and staff found and removed antiPalestinian flyers at least 3 times a week in the same exact location of Cramer Hall. At least 5 different reports were made to President Cudd and the PSU administration about the flyers. There was no visible response from President Cudd or the PSU administration to acknowledge or remove the flyers.
On Aug. 8, faculty and staff identified and spoke with the person responsible for posting the flyers. The name of the individual was shared with the PSU administration and the OCR investigating attorney.
We are withholding the name of the individual responsible because we want to remain focused on holding President Cudd responsible for allowing ongoing harassment of Palestinian and Muslim students and faculty.
Despite claims otherwise, there was no response from PSU during the months of July and August concerning the flyers (this claim has not been independently verified by PSU Vanguard). In fact, a PSU administrator minimized the antiPalestinian sentiment by stating PSU was “aware of flyers posted in Cramer Hall that some may consider hate speech” in the Aug. 8 Oregonian article.
On Sept. 3, the PSU administration sent a response about the flyers to only a few people on campus. President Cudd briefly mentioned the Oregonian article and PSU response in her Sept. 13 blog post. In her blog post, the President omits that the flyers were continuously removed by faculty, students and staff rather than by facilities or PSU administration. The President also omits that the reports made by students, faculty and staff to President Cudd and PSU Office of Equity and Compliance were responded to inconsistently at best and intentionally misleading at worst. Nor did President Cudd report that PSU was under an OCR Title VI investigation for failing to respond appropriately.
In that same blog post, President Cudd again centered the safety of Jewish students while she allowed the spread of anti-Palestinian hate in Cramer Hall. This creates a dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric that deepens divides, promotes intolerance and incites widespread discrimination and violence beyond the PSU campus.
We are deeply troubled by the silence around the flyers and the connection of the responsible individual to a large PSU donor (this claim has not been independently verified by PSU Vanguard). We are troubled by the ways PSU donors, Board of Trustee members and others are influencing President Cudd’s inconsistent and opaque response to antiPalestinian hate on campus.
We urge the PSU community to be vigilant in holding President Cudd to a standard of transparency and inclusion for all on campus. We ask for transparency around the formation and the rights and responsibilities of the Committee on Socially Responsible Investment and Partnership. We ask the committee to look beyond connections to Boeing in examining the local, national and global impacts of PSU donors and other partnerships.
