Purdue Will Not Punish Professor Who Shared Blackface Throwback Photo

Purdue University will not punish a faculty member who posted a photo of herself on Facebook in blackface, NewsOne reported. The university told the website that it received an anonymous complaint in November about a professor who in 2016 posted a childhood Halloween picture of herself in 1974, and that “her personal social media post of an old photo was not harassment under Purdue policy.” In “any event, what we can say firmly is that, at Purdue, we do not punish speech, particularly when off-campus speech is expressed by an employee speaking as a private citizen,” the university said in its statement. The photo shows two girls wearing black paint, black clothing and bones in their hair.

The professor, Lisa Stillman, an instructional coordinator in the department of biological sciences, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the photo. Several hundred people have signed an online petition criticizing Purdue for its response to the complaint and demanding that Stillman resign. “Rather than letting Lisa Stillman go, Purdue still provides taxpayer dollars to a staff member that is not equipped to work with students of all backgrounds,” the document reads. “Sign this petition to stand up to racial injustice and to create a safe space at universities where all students can be treated with the respect they deserve.”