Letter to the Editor: An open letter to Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi in support of Oliver Baker – The Daily Collegian Online

This letter was written by several organizations at Penn State and in State College including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's State College Chapter, Students Against Sexist Violence, Alleghenies Abolition and Central Pennsylvania United.

We feel compelled to share vital information with you regarding a threat to campus safety. This information has become more important for you to consider in the wake of the recent Buffalo, New York, shooting where a vile white supremacist committed an act of racist terrorism by murdering 10 Black residents in a supermarket.

Writing this letter is an act of solidarity, taking up the call to address the threat of white supremacist violence in our own communities by challenging white supremacist ideas and holding people responsible for the actions to which these ideas lead.

Considering the recent Buffalo shooting tragedy, we feel it is our moral obligation to share our concerns of a white supremacist provocateur on campus whose actions we have been monitoring since he violently disrupted a Vaccinate Penn State rally in August 2021.

As you are probably aware, administrators Provost Nick Jones and Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts Clarence Lang have unjustly sought the dismissal of an innocent professor and anti-racist ally, Oliver Baker, assistant professor of English and African American studies at Penn State, for bravely protecting faculty and students from this white supremacist provocateur at this rally.

The aim of this letter is to express our concern that we believe administrators are dangerously ignoring the warning signs of a white supremacist threat on campus in order to justify their decision to seek the termination of Baker.

There are two parts to this problem that are fundamentally interconnected. First, we are worried about our safety on campus due to the threat of the provocateur; second, administrators appear to be aware of the threat of this provocateur and are actively choosing to downplay this threat because if they acknowledge this threat then they cannot reach their goal of firing Baker.

This leads us to believe that administrators are making the following unethical decisions: they are not addressing a legitimate white supremacist threat on campus, and it appears they are ignoring this threat in order to fire Baker, who the NAACP State College Chapter considers a white ally whom all professors on campus should be like for his dedication to anti-racism and justice.

We are asking for you to hold this provocateur, Avi Rachlin, accountable to stop the threat we feel he poses to campus safety and that you reinstate Baker to show that Penn State supports those who protect the campus from white supremacist violence.

Let us explain. The provocateur in question has a history of telegraphing his violent intentions and then acting them out. In August, he attended the Vaccinate Penn State rally with the intention to intimidate and threaten the physical safety of peaceful rally-goers. He had tweeted that he aimed to disrupt the rally. He followed through on this threat by assaulting and committing battery against several attendees.

After a physical altercation with counter-protester Penn State student Avi Rachlin at a vaccine mandate rally in August 2021, Baker was charged with harassment, disorderly conduct and simple assault.

On Nov. 8, 2021, Baker was found not guilty on one charge of harassment by Centre County District Judge Steven Lachman, while the other two charges were withdrawn.

In January 2022, Baker said via email Penn State has "activated the AC70 process," which is the dismissal procedure for tenure and tenure-eligible faculty members.

The provocateur has also stated publicly that he supports school shooters. The provocateur has also stated publicly that "whites must remain dominant," revealing he follows the same absurd "Great Replacement Theory" that motivated not only the white supremacist Buffalo shooter but other racist mass shooters, like Dylann Roof and Patrick Wood Crusius. The provocateur is also an avowed misogynist who has alarmingly stated publicly that he wishes to rape and kill women.

According to a petition to expel Rachlin posted in January, Rachlin allegedly said he wants to "shoot up a school," sent pornagraphic images to minors, addressed people with slurs and harmed students and faculty via social media.

At the August rally, he waved a sign with the image of white supremacist Alex Jones pointing a gun with text overlaid saying, "Shut the [F***] Up Liberal." The provocateur's message was clear to rally-goers. To any reasonable person, he appeared to be telegraphing his desire to shoot people who were advocating for a vaccine mandate. In fact, this same sign had an image of a "non-player character" humanoid with text overlaid saying, "Govern me harder daddy."

The provocateur was using this image to compare those advocating for vaccine mandates to "non-player characters" that are seen as "not human" and therefore targets of violence. Previous to this, he said online that just as he shoots "non-player characters" while playing the video game, Grand Theft Auto, he wishes to shoot people in real life who, to him, act like the "non-player characters."

This is incredibly chilling and alarming. It is the same pattern we saw with the Buffalo shooter: white supremacist ideas that were not challenged, telegraphed intentions and then violent action. For these reasons, we believe that this provocateur poses a serious threat to safety on campus.

We are extremely concerned that Penn State administrators Dean Lang, Provost Jones, Vice President Damon Sims and Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Danny Shaha have refused to hold Rachlin accountable specifically because, if they did so, it would compromise their attempts to punish Baker.

This is not only unethical but outright reckless and dangerous. Lang, Jones, Sims, and Shaha are putting the entire campus's safety at risk by aiding and abetting the behavior of a person who advocates for white supremacy and misogyny.

We believe they are doing this precisely because it supports their attempts to fire Baker. If administrators recognize Rachlin as the threat we believe he is, they must also acknowledge that Baker was in the right on Aug. 27 when he protected people from Rachlin's white supremacist violence.

We believe that administrators' choice to ignore the warning signs of Rachlin's behavior in order to fire Baker is objectively advancing the conditions that lead to these mass shootings.

We hope you look at the facts of Baker's case and see that Baker was right to protect the campus from white supremacist violence. Baker's actions do not constitute anything nearing "grave misconduct."

Jones' and Lang's only course of action to justify this career-ending form of punishment against Baker is to ignore the facts and disregard the evidence that was already used in court to reach an innocent verdict. Jones and Lang are likely moving the goal posts of what counts as "grave misconduct" to fire Dr. Baker because they know the evidence doesn't support their unfounded allegations.

Since the court has cleared Baker of wrongdoing, and those present at the rally were grateful that Baker protected them from the provocateur, the AC70 process should have been dropped months ago. Please choose to be as brave as Baker by reinstating his position and honoring his deeds on behalf of our university.

For the last nine months, multiple student, faculty, and community organizations have been calling for Baker to be reinstated because he protected the campus from white supremacist and sexist violence. We want Baker here and see him as a boon to our community as someone who takes action to stop racist and sexist violence.

In fact, the University Park Undergraduate Association, the voice of the student body at Penn State, passed "Resolution #01-17: Supporting Dr. Oliver Baker and Urging Administration to Withdraw Their AC70 Charge Against Him," that directly calls on you to stop the termination of Baker.

We're asking you to listen to these voices and reinstate Baker. Your administration can send a message and set a precedent that Penn State will support faculty who protect the campus from white supremacist violence.

If Baker is fired, the people of Penn State will see this as a decision to enable vile and dangerous right-wing extremism that is on the rise in our country and, unfortunately, at Penn State. For us, Jones and Lang have already etched in their legacy that they're on the side of white supremacy and rape culture by seeking to terminate an anti-racist professor who protected the campus from such right-wing extremist violence.

The choice to fire Baker will not be seen as a sign of openness and tolerance, but rather, it will be understood as a decision to welcome white supremacist violence at Penn State. Hate groups will be emboldened by such a decision. They will expect to receive the same solidarity from Penn State in their work of spreading hate and intolerance on campus.

The world will also know that Penn State has not learned from its past scandals where abusive violence was excused to the detriment of survivors.

We know you have an admirable track record of supporting students and faculty of color and of opposing white supremacy. Many here are hoping that your presidency at Penn State signals a new era of anti-racism and equity on campus.

This can begin by addressing the concerns we have raised in this letter. We ask you to oppose white supremacist violence on campus by ordering administrators to hold accountable the provocateur, Rachlin, to eliminate the threat that we believe he poses to the campus.

We ask that you stand with us for justice by reinstating Baker to support those who stop white supremacist violence.

This open letter has rolling signatures.Please email studentfacultyrights@gmail.com to add your organization's name to the signatories.

If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here.

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Letter to the Editor: An open letter to Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi in support of Oliver Baker - The Daily Collegian Online