Another community organization puts support behind student involved in State High assault

The 3/20 Coalition started a petition Thursday asking Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna to drop charges against a 16-year-old student involved in an assault at State College Area High School.

The original petition urged Cantorna to drop charges of felony assault, simple assault and harassment that were filed against a Black student. In an updated press release sent Thursday night, the 3/20 Coalition wrote that the severity of charges “is yet to be determined.” The Centre Daily Times has been unable to confirm any charges, which are not public record for juveniles.

Cantorna did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The assault occurred on Feb. 1 and was connected to a photo containing racist and antisemitic imagery that circulated. State College Area School District has denied any knowledge of the photo prior to the assault.

Local advocacy group 3/20 Coalition began its petition days after the State College chapter of the NAACP started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the student’s legal fees. The campaign has raised nearly $25,000.

Both groups allege that the Black student was targeted and harassed for months by the white student who circulated the picture.

“Hate speech is not free speech and has no business in an institution of higher learning. The 3/20 Coalition stands against racism and White supremacy, and are now faced with a situation that has fallen into the hands of the District Attorney instead of the principal’s office,” the 3/20 coalition wrote in a press release.

In a statement earlier this week, Superintendent Bob O’Donnell wrote that the school district has no say over whether charges are filed in physical altercations that occur on school property.

“In addition to prompting our own internal investigations, every physical altercation within our high school is automatically logged by our school resource officer (SRO), a police officer,” he said.

The best-case scenario is that charges are dropped and both students work toward restorative justice, through the Center for Alternatives in Community Justice or other organizations, said Tierra Williams, who is the chair of the 3/20 Coalition and a Ferguson Township supervisor.

“The youth aid panel requires someone to go through training, to go through classes and to actually have a restorative process,” Williams said. “But we also think the white child needs to go through a process when it comes to race relations.”

If the charges against the Black student are not dropped, the 3/20 Coalition said the white student should also face harassment and ethnic intimidation charges.

Williams believes both students should be treated equally.

“Saying that one child is violent, but somehow swastikas and saying the N-word isn’t?” Williams said. “Well, that’s violence. That’s verbal violence. Violence can be verbal, mental, physical, financial. Harassment and abuse comes in all forms.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 4:56 PM.