Penn State faculty members urge community action, not charges, for teen involved in assault

A group of education scholars and researchers has joined a growing effort to urge Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna to dismiss charges against a Black student at State High following an assault at the school.

In a letter sent Tuesday, 21 faculty members from the Penn State College of Education — who wrote that they signed the letter as “private persons, parents, and community members” — emphasized the need for community action rather than a criminal justice intervention for a the teen involved in an assault that was related to a racist photo.

The assault occurred on Feb. 1 at State High and was connected to a photo containing racist and antisemitic imagery, school district officials have said, denying any knowledge of the photo prior to the assault.

“The State College Area Public School District and its community of parents, students, stakeholders are at a momentous juncture. The opportunity to build capacity for collectively working through behavioral misconduct is at hand,” the group wrote.

The District Attorney’s office has a policy of not disclosing information regarding juvenile investigations, Cantorna said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that “matters like these are the subject of juvenile petitions filed in juvenile court, not adult court.”

“Statements that someone has been charged criminally in regards to this incident, or runs the risk of going to prison, are not accurate and it is important that our community understands that,” he wrote.

Cantorna said that juvenile justice system has different goals than the adult system and that no juvenile has been directly charged in criminal court during his four-year tenure.

“Often juveniles in Centre County receive dispositions that are restorative in nature and don’t result in formal adjudications,” Cantorna wrote. “The most common tool utilized in a restorative manner is a consent decree where the person is under supervision, performs community service and receives services that address the needs of the juvenile.“

The State College NAACP and the 3/20 Coalition each created petitions for the DA to drop charges, and the State College NAACP started a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for the student’s legal fees. That campaign has raised more than $32,000.

Tuesday’s letter from Penn State faculty addresses the school to prison pipeline, disproportionate criminalization of Black youth and alternative solutions to criminal charges.

“As the District Attorney you have the power to support restorative justice in our school systems by refusing to criminalize one of our Black youth,” the letter stated.

Ashley Patterson, an assistant professor of education and one of the people who signed the letter, said that ethnic harassment is part of a much larger problem that the nation is facing.

“I believe that a lot of times the behaviors we’ve seen, especially when they’re race based, are a symptom of a problem but not the problem themselves,” Patterson said. “So I think that schools have to do a much better job of creating spaces where we’re learning about each other and not building up resistances toward each other.”

The State College Area School District has not released many details about the incident, citing privacy concerns when dealing with individual students. A spokesman for district had no comment on the letter.

Another signer, assistant teaching professor of education Efraín Marimón, urged transformative justice, which uses individual instances to address larger issues.

“Transformative justice is broader and it breaks from the binary approach that is there is a perpetrator and a victim,” Marimón said. “It attempts to look at the systems, those impacted by the systems and the community more broadly.”

The group emphasized listening to students and understanding how racial motivated incidents and the communities response can effect students.

“Sometimes incidents seems small, perhaps from the outside, but when you really listen to the students who are telling you that this affects them, and how deeply it affects them you can develop and work on empathy,” associate professor of education Kathleen Collins said.

Patterson also advocated for people to educate themselves and speak up when they see signs of racial injustice.

“It’s hard for me to believe that if everyone had the same level of understanding about how unjust a lot of our systems were, that everyone would sign up for them in the ways that we see now,” Patterson said.

In his statement, Cantorna also responded to the letter from Penn State educators.

“I share many of their sentiments and opinions, but my role as District Attorney is limited and does not address the multifaceted issues that are being faced by the School District,” Cantorna wrote. “Those matters are important and should be part of a community discussion so that we can ensure all students flourish in the State College Area School District.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 10:44 AM.