HAMMOND — Amid growing controversy over racist remarks by Purdue University Northwest Chancellor Thomas Keon, the PNW faculty senate is demanding his resignation and has plans a no-confidence vote if he doesn't do so by Monday.
Keon's comments came during commencement Dec. 10, when he did a cartoonish impression of an Asian language in response to the keynote address. Video of his speech was met with intense backlash on social media, and Keon has since issued a formal apology.
Still, the PNW faculty senate, the governing body for the university's educational staff, voted unanimously to demand that Keon resign.
"His offensive statements at commencement, on Saturday, December 10, 2022, insulted the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, including faculty, staff and students at Purdue Northwest," the senate wrote in an open letter. "His inexcusable behavior caused national and international outrage. His behavior does not reflect the diversity and inclusiveness that Purdue faculty, staff and students value."
Thomas Roach, chairman of the faculty senate, says that if Keon hasn't stepped down by Monday, the next step is the faculty confidence vote.
"He has to leave," Roach told The Times in an interview Sunday. "There's no question about it."
Roach said the senate has wanted Keon to resign for more than a year, citing such concerns as negative feedback from faculty, issues over pay, hiring decisions the senate disagreed with, high turnover in his provost's office, and dissatisfaction with how he handled the merger of the Hammond and Westville campuses.
Roach said Keon's "dehumanizing, offensive remark at the graduation ceremony" forced the senate to revisit the matter.
Roach has "no doubt" that the faculty will vote in favor of asking for Keon's resignation. "If the chancellor doesn't have the faculty's support, the chancellor should leave," he said.
PNW's chapter of the American Association of University Professors also released a statement condemning Keon's remarks and making similar demands.
"As disturbing as this latest incident is, it is unfortunately not an isolated one," the statement reads. "The Keon administration has long been subjected to criticism for its heavily top-down, non-inclusive approach to university governance, an approach which is characterized by a disregard for the concerns of faculty, students and staff, as well as an insensitivity to diverse cultures within the PNW community."
The AAUP chapter also criticized what it saw as an insufficient apology and noted that Keon's seven-person leadership team is solely comprised of white people.
"Though Chancellor Keon, in response to the widespread criticism he has received, has insisted that he 'did not intend to be hurtful,' this suggests, at best, a highly troublesome level of ignorance, insensitivity and lack of judgement on his part," the statement says. "While Chancellor Keon frequently talks about diversity and inclusion, he fails to implement these values at the top level of administrative university governance, an area under his total control."
The group hopes that Keon will be dismissed if he doesn't resign.
"In an increasingly diverse world, in which sensitivity to people from a variety of cultures is crucial for success, the time has come for Chancellor Keon to resign, or else to be removed by the Purdue University Board of Trustees, so that a leader better attuned to what it takes to engage multiple constituencies with respect — not ridicule — can be found."
University officials at the Hammond campus and the system headquarters in West Lafayette did not respond Sunday to The Times' requests for comment.
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