Letters: Ignoring hate no longer an option; Essential to focus on Penn State research enterprise

Ignoring hate no longer an option

Centre County has a white supremacy problem and the latest incident at State High is only the most recent example. In April the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza was vandalized. A report in 2021 by the Southern Poverty Law Center indicated that hate groups in the state are emboldened. Closer to home you can drive in any direction from downtown State College and within 10 minutes you will confront Confederate flags and other white supremacist symbols. Ignoring the hate within our county is no longer an option and the borough and county governments need to begin addressing the reality that we live and work in a community with hate in our midst. Failure to address the hate groups and racism as well as the symbols within our community will only further embolden aggressive actions by white supremacist and nationalist groups and racist groups and individuals. This problem will not go away on its own.

Essential to focus on PSU research enterprise

In an academic ranking that actually matters, Penn State came in fourth nationally in the breadth of depth of its research enterprise, as determined by the number of top-10 programs of science and engineering fields and subfields. The news comes courtesy of the National Science Foundation’s ranking of Higher Education Research and Development expenditures, released in January.

Penn State had 12 top-10 rankings for FY 2020. Ahead of the university were John Hopkins with 17, Michigan with 14, and MIT with 13. Not bad company to be keeping, but there’s been a little slippage. In FY 2018 and 2019, Penn State ranked No. 1 (last year being tied with Hopkins at 16 apiece).

The same ranking, however, showed Penn State moving up from 23rd to 22nd nationally in total research expenditures.

As President-elect Bendapudi comes on board in May, here’s hoping she keeps a laser focus on strengthening the entire Penn State research enterprise, upon which academic quality and reputation are primarily based.

State High teen should not be charged

We are writing as long-time State College residents with children that have graduated from State College High School. We urge the district attorney’s office to not press criminal charges against the 16-year-old student who was recently involved in an assault at the high school. From reading the news reports of the incidents as well as the reports of the discussion at the recent school board meeting, we believe the attack was precipitated by racial taunting by the other student involved in the incident.

Because of the age of both individuals involved, and the circumstances surrounding the assault, we support a non-criminal, restorative justice process that would resolve the incident in a way that would promote education and reconciliation between the two young men and not tarnish either with a criminal record. We believe the prosecution of one or both students would only further the damage that has already been done and fail to bring healing to the families involved, our local high school and our community.

‘No mask’ movements stifled recovery

The idiocy of the “no mask” movements has crossed our borders much as COVID-19 has crossed all international boundaries to infect many millions of people.

The level of selfishness and lack of concern for the lives of others by the “no mask, no vaccination” people continues to stun me and continues to stunt our economies.

What happened to “community,” “a village,” and ”let’s all pull together?” Loving kindness is certainly in short supply.

Just imagine what would have happened in the ‘50s if millions of no vaccination-my freedom people rose up and refused the polio vaccine ... there would be millions of people with crippled limbs and broken lives.

Vaccines are one of the most amazing and beneficial inventions ever made by humans and yet the right wing crazies ... only concerned about an extra dollar in their pockets or their next term in office ... spout vaccine lies and cry about “loss of freedom.”

Job well done. We are now stuck with COVID. If everyone would have masked up and gotten vaccinated this mess would be over. “Too late now,” as the doctors tell the unvaccinated dying of sever respiratory problems (also known as “I cannot breathe”).

So continue to carry on about “my freedoms” while the economy tanks and people die by the millions.