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| Saturday, April 21 Two dozen arrested in protest against threats Associated Press | |||
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – More than two dozen Penn State
students were arrested Saturday after they rushed the field before
a football scrimmage to draw attention to death threats made against black students.
The students -- most of whom were black -- ran past police and
onto the field as the band was playing the national anthem. At
least one student was carried off the field by police, delaying the
start of the game by about 15 minutes.
"It was passive resistance," said Bruce Kline, assistant
director of administrative services for university police. "They
locked arms and were resistant in that sense, but there was no
active resistance, and there was no need to use spray or sticks."
The students, who were not immediately identified, were to be arraigned Saturday in Philipsburg on charges of trespassing and defying an order to leave.
The protest was in response to a death threat received Friday by a black student, said Penn State graduate student Assata Richards, who was not arrested and said she was a spokeswoman for the group.
She said a reporter for the school newspaper, Daryl Lang, received a letter in his campus mailbox that threatened the life of a black student and threatened to bomb a ceremony honoring black graduates. A second letter also criticized Lang for reporting race-related campus events.
"There have been death threats -- this is the fourth death
threat," Richards said. "There have been football players who
have been threatened, their parents have been threatened."
Last week, members of the national Legislative Black Caucus were
on campus to talk with students, faculty and administrators about
race-based problems.
In October, the president of the Penn State Black Caucus said
she received two threatening letters -- one at her home and one in
her campus mailbox. Letters also were sent to a member of the
university's Board of Trustees and to the out-of-state home of a
black Penn State football player.
"Up to now, it has not appeared to be a problem, but my head
might be in the sand," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "I
won't know until I talk to the squad, and I didn't think that would
be appropriate today. This is supposed to be a fun game."
A statement on the university's Web site said authorities, including the FBI, were investigating the letters. A march for tolerance is scheduled on campus Tuesday.
"This is a federal crime that will carry an enormous consequence for the person who made the threat," Penn State president Graham Spanier said. "But more than that, it is an attack against everyone in the Penn State family. We condemn the threats and we call the person who anonymously issued them a coward."
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