BY DAVE NALBONE

On December 10, 2022, during a morning commencement exercise, Purdue University Northwest chancellor Tom Keon, in an apparent effort to dovetail on the humor of the commencement speaker who gave examples of the made-up language he used to entertain his grandchildren, offered his “Asian version” . . . to stunningly bad effect. Quickly, though, he appeared to realize the inanity of his behavior, trailing off in mid-sentence. Thereafter, he appeared to think he had passed the issue, as the same remarks were not repeated in an afternoon commencement on the same day, and he only issued a tin-eared and self-serving apology four days later after the video of his Asian-language-mocking went viral and produced howls of outrage.

The damage his actions have caused—which have been portrayed as racist, dehumanizing, offensive, and insensitive—continues to this day, with individuals, institutions, and even some nations calling out his atrocious behavior. (It is worth noting that over half of all humans on planet Earth are of Asian descent.)

Despite the oft-repeated line that faculty tend to respond slowly to fast-changing events—the “be more nimble” critique—we acted swiftly. Immediately upon seeing the full video, the PNW senate chair called on the Purdue University Board of Trustees to remove Keon. On December 16, the PNW faculty senate executive committee voted unanimously to call for his resignation, and that demand was delivered in person to him that afternoon, with a request to hear from him on the matter by early the next day, else matters would escalate.

We have heard absolutely nothing from him since that day.

On December 19, PNW faculty were asked to vote on whether they had confidence in Keon’s leadership: 135 faculty voted no-confidence, and only twenty voted confidence. (It should also be noted that about thirty PNW administrators have faculty rank and thus could have voted.) This rebuke was communicated to the Purdue Board of Trustees—which issued a mild reprimand and signaled it was ready to close the matter.

More recently, after numerous Asian organizations have called on him to resign, and one is in the process of removing him from its board, he complained that he “knows the truth, but no one wants to listen.” Such is par for the course among bad leaders these days—instead of offering a sincere apology and plan for (personal) remedial action, play the victim instead, and cast blame on others.

However, it is important to see this action in its full context: it was not, as has been described in some extremist corners, an example of “cancel culture” in which a single error leads to career death but was rather the culmination of a long series of leadership failures on Keon’s part, ultimately leading the overwhelming majority of faculty to reject his leadership. Just less than a year ago, the previous senate chair had asked him to resign as well, citing poor leadership, no strategic vision, and little faculty support. During his tenure as PNW’s chancellor, our enrollment has declined by about half—with no apparent explanation by him. (He once claimed that the demographic cliff was to blame—but since that will not take effect until 2026, that claim can be dismissed as temporally nonsensical.) Faculty and staff morale at PNW are quite low—although how low is unclear, as (despite numerous calls to do so) he has refused to reimplement a faculty and staff satisfaction survey, last conducted in 2012, which allows employees to comment on the state of the institution (and, implicitly, its leadership). This, too, is part of his leadership playbook—rule by fear and intimidation, ignore input of all but one’s closest circle, and hope not to make any mortal blunders. Too late for that . . .

So why is the Purdue board clinging fast to him? It may have to do with another change in leadership there—Mitch Daniels was on the way out, and likely did not want the taint of this episode to be the last memory many had of his term as president, especially as he publicly considers a run for US Senate (despite publicly lying, for a decade, that he was “done” with politics). The new president (of Asian descent) will face increasing pressure to remove Keon, as the calls by Asian organizations to reconsider sending their children to be Purdue students have already begun and show no signs of abating.

This episode is not the first to paint Purdue in a bad light. Last year, racial incidents on the main Purdue campus inflamed long-simmering tensions over racial insensitivity at Purdue. Another incident—in which students who reported sexual assault were expelled from the university and reinstated on appeal, a result far more severe than the perpetrator’s punishment (a ten-page paper on sexual exploitation and the importance of consent before sex)—led to protests at the university and reveals a pattern of improper responses to such issues at Purdue generally.

In short, Purdue is more inclined to defend those who engage in racist and rapist behavior than those who object to such behavior. How long will Purdue be able to maintain its world-class reputation in light of such an ugly—and indefensible—pattern of responses? The damage from Keon’s actions is already being felt and may take years—or decades—to undo, as the university works to repair its now-tattered reputation.

Such is often life in the modern public university: faculty members working diligently to deliver academic programs and maintain integrity, students working hard to earn their degrees, a few clueless administrators causing major damage to the entire institution, and a board inexplicably rushing to the clueless ones’ defense. Among other things, this pattern indicates that we urgently need reform in how we select and appoint board members, who are often appointed for their political connections—or donation history—rather than their knowledge of or concern with academic matters and with providing a public good. We can, and must, work to do better.

Dave Nalbone is professor of psychology at Purdue University Northwest, vice chair of the PNW faculty senate, and past president of the Indiana state AAUP conference.

Home page feature photo by English 106 for Flickr (CC by 2.0), Wikimedia Commons.