UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For Jeanelle Loiseau, the new plaque commemorating the Village sit-in is more than an acknowledgment of a protest — it’s a path to understanding Black history at Penn State.
“I always say if you don’t know the Village, you don’t know Black Caucus,” said Loiseau, a fifth-year biochemistry and molecular biology student serving as chief of staff for the 17th Assembly of the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA).
The Village was a 10-day sit-in protest that took place in April 2001 to demand increased safety in response to a series of anonymous anti-Black messages and threats of violence, and to pressure the University to make meaningful progress on diversity.
At the time, students — including members of the UPUA Black Caucus — occupied the HUB-Robeson Center while discussing a list of demands with the Penn State administration. Aiming to increase diversity, equity and inclusion at the University, their requests included the creation of the Africana Research Center, the establishment of scholarships to benefit students majoring in African American studies, and an increase in the number of Black faculty.
Penn State is acknowledging and honoring the advocacy of the 2001 Black Caucus with a plaque installed next to the staircase inside the HUB-Robeson Center's lawn entrance. According to the plaque’s inscription, it is meant to “serve as a reminder for Penn State students, faculty and staff that there is no progress without organized struggle.” An official dedication ceremony for the plaque was held on Dec. 3.
"Racial progress at our University and across higher education has often begun with student activism, and the Black Caucus has been at the center of that progress at Penn State,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims.
The plaque installation was a collaboration between the Black Caucus and the HUB-Robeson Center, a unit of Penn State Student Affairs. Loiseau took initiative in creating the plaque — a project she was inspired to spearhead while serving as the UPUA Black Caucus representative in 2021-22.
Loiseau decided to take charge of the project after listening to a speaker at Black Caucus’ annual “Now More Than Ever” week, which is dedicated to the Village. One of the speakers — a 2019-20 member of Latino Caucus — spoke about prevailing issues of racism and inequality present within the UPUA.
“I think that was when it really sparked something in me,” said Loiseau. “I was like, ‘Let me use my position to make actual change on campus.’”
Following a resolution approving the creation of a plaque by UPUA in December 2021, Loiseau got in touch with members of Penn State’s administration, including Sims.
After receiving approval from the administration, Loiseau began working with former students who participated in the Village protest, HUB-Robeson Center Senior Director Mary Edgington, and others at the University to plan the words, design and placement of the plaque.
For 2001 Black Caucus President LaKeisha Wolf, the goal of the plaque’s inscription is to convey that the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts of the Village protestors must continue.
“We wanted to make sure that the plaque — with the limited amount of space and words we had — reflected the fact that [this advocacy] is a movement and this is really an ongoing struggle,” Wolf said. “The mantle of responsibility has to continue to be passed on, because it’s our lives, it’s our humanity that really is at stake.”
And Loiseau feels the plaque does just that.
“It’s [the Village alumni’s] words that are on the plaque, and I think I wanted that to be special, because, yeah, I could tell their story, but I don't want it to be fabricated,” Loiseau said. “I really wanted [alumni] to have the opportunity … to tell the story. The Village is a heavy subject to talk about … but they really wanted it to be known.”
Edgington said she has seen students stop and read the plaque, which she believes “says volumes.”
“For me, being the senior director of the HUB-Robeson Center, this is where these conversations can happen,” Edgington said. “That’s what our mission is — to engage students, to talk about student leadership in whatever form it takes. This was a student initiative back then, and it’s a student initiative now.”
Mirroring this sentiment, Sims said the HUB-Robeson Center is the perfect location for the Village to be recognized.
"When Frank Guadagnino — then vice president for administration — and I first talked with the students about their idea for a plaque, there was little doubt that it had to be displayed in a prominent location, and the HUB-Robeson Center was the obvious and natural choice," said Sims.
But the work of the plaque cannot end with its installation and official dedication, as Wolf said it is only the beginning.
“The plaque is great and I’m grateful for the recognition of this work, but it’s not about me and it’s not about any individual students. It’s about the people,” Wolf said. “The power is always in the people. It’s always in the community. It’s really the Penn State community’s responsibility to uphold [diversity, equity and inclusion changes] and to do better.”
Wolf is the one who, in October 2000, began receiving hateful letters after an editorial she wrote about Black representation in the media was published in the student-produced newspaper The Daily Collegian. One of the letters, which contained life-threatening statements against Wolf, also was sent in April 2001 to Daryl Lang — a Collegian reporter who was assigned to cover the University’s Black community that year. Once Wolf became aware of the letter, it was reported to the police and University officials.
“We felt that if the stakes were already really high — if my safety and the safety of Black students was already at risk — that was a moment when everybody needed to be clear that this was a real life and death issue,” Wolf said. “The tangible changes in respect to curriculum and retention of Black students, faculty and staff are all connected to how people learn, how people perceive other people’s value and their worth.”
To emphasize the urgency of the situation, the Black Caucus organized a protest to take place at Penn State's Blue-White football game. This resulted in the arrest of 26 of the 40 students who rushed the field at Beaver Stadium. The following week, the University held a “No Hate at Penn State” march. Wolf and her fellow Black Caucus colleagues met with members of the Penn State administration to discuss ways to improve diversity, equity and inclusion at the University.
These conversations did not yield a satisfactory response from the University, according to Wolf, and the Black Caucus decided its actions could not stop there. The result was a 10-day sit-in protest in the HUB-Robeson Center, soon to be known as “the Village.”
The Village protest led to the creation of a University-wide diversity plan, including recruitment and retention of more Black faculty, student scholarships, curriculum revisions, and the creation of Pennsylvania’s first Africana Research Center.
Loiseau said she hopes the plaque symbolizes peace and justice for the Village members.
“I think the plaque is a symbol of being welcomed here at Penn State,” Loiseau said. “When the plaque was hung and I told the Village alumni in an email that it was up, I said, ‘I hope this plaque welcomes you back to Penn State.’”
Moving forward, Loiseau said the goal of the plaque is to spark further change and increased recognition of Black history at Penn State.
“We discuss the ‘We Are’ chant a lot within Black Caucus, because there’s a Black history behind it, and sometimes we just feel like it’s used as a token for Penn State,” she said. “There hasn’t been enough minority appreciation at the school, and I think there can be a lot more dedicated to minorities. That’s why I feel like with this plaque, it’s just the beginning of something.”
Sims said the University plans to further the efforts of the Village by continuing to support diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
"Progress made on this front must be celebrated, and those responsible for it should be remembered,” Sims said. “But we have a long way to go, and persistent commitment from all of us must remain."