Rejoinder: Purdue University Northwest Chancellor Thomas L. Keon and the Asian-Pacific American Caucus: A “Non-Matrix, Not a Myth”
“We are all human,” Purdue University Northwest Chancellor Thomas L. Keon said in a public apology Thursday. I made a mistake and assure you that my comments do not reflect my personal or institutional values.
On Saturday, Keon spoke at a commencement ceremony in Indiana where 833 students received degrees from the university. When Keon spoke, he referenced a speech made immediately beforehand by keynote speaker James Dedelow, where he mentioned a made-up language he sometimes uses as a radio host on the air and with his family.
A video posted to PNW’s official YouTube page shows Keon taking the podium on December 10 following a speech from a commencement speaker and then uttering some apparently made-up words. He said that his version of him was Asian. The speaker seemingly referred to the prior speaker.
In the days after, the university defended Keon’s remarks. On Wednesday, an associate vice chancellor, Kris Falzone, told the Chronicle of Higher Education that “Chancellor Keon was reacting to something that the speaker had said, and it was taken out of context.”
The vice chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus said that the racist imitation caused pain to the students and faculty at the university. “We have to continue to call out instances like these so that they never become the norm in our schools, neighborhoods and nation.”
In his apology, Keon said he would head an “interdisciplinary team” to address issues important to the university’s Asian American and Pacific Islander community and would meet with the student government association.
The class of first-time freshmen at the Boilermaker University Northwest are most racially diverse this year. The university has said that 2% of students identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.
Comments on Keon, the Vice-President of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, at the December 16 Meeting of the Chancellor’s Resignation
The vice chair of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee wrote a letter to the chancellor asking for him to step down.
On December 14 Keon made a public apology posted to PNW’s Twitter page. “I made a comment that was offensive and insensitive. I am truly sorry for my unplanned, off-the-cuff response to another speaker,” Keon said “I assure you I did not intend to be hurtful, and my comments do not reflect my personal or our institutional values.”
On December 16 though, the university’s Faculty Senate Executive Committee came to a unanimous decision demanding Keon’s resignation after a discussion.
There has been no response from him to our demand for his resignation, said Nalbone in a statement.
The committee said that Keon made statements that insulted the Asian American and Pacific Islands community and caused national and international outrage.
The committee is going to hold a no-confidence vote and results should be in by Tuesday night, Nalbone said. The outcome of the vote doesn’t necessarily have immediate repercussions. The trustees or president have the power of removal if he quits, according to Nalbone.