Email Message to the Penn State Law Community: Next Steps on Penn State Law Bias Reporting Efforts

Dear Members of the Penn State Law Community,

I am grateful for the leadership of Dean Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia and our Diversity Committee in working to develop a new approach to Penn State Law bias reporting that would complement existing Penn State Law and University approaches. I also have appreciated the engagement of our students, faculty, and staff with the drafts.

I support the choice by a majority of the Diversity Committee to continue developing the bias reporting mechanism in the Fall.  This spring, we will pilot a Restorative Justice Circle. That will give us an opportunity to learn from the pilot and have us inform our continued work on the mechanism this Fall.

We are also working to have better follow up and be more transparent when concerns are currently reported internally. Please continue to give us feedback; we are committed to ongoing improvement of the process.

I also want to remind students about the existing University mechanisms:

• Student Code of Conduct: https://studentaffairs.psu.edu/support-safety-conduct/student-conduct/code-conduct
• Report Bias:  http://equity.psu.edu/reportbias.  

We appreciate the efforts that so many people in our community are making to move forward our concrete action steps to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in our community. I look forward to continuing to partner in this important work.

Best,

Hari Osofsky
Dean of Penn State Law and School of International Affairs
Distinguished Professor of Law, Professor of International Affairs, Professor of Geography
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park