Brown and White Vol. 134 no. 1

              The Brown and White Vol. 134 No. 1
Friday, February 2, 2018 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
By KLAUDIA JAZWINSKA
Editor in Chief
James Braxton Peterson, the direc-tor
of Africana studies and a profes-sor
of English, has been confirmed as
the Lehigh faculty member who was
accused of sexual and other miscon-duct
last semester, according to an
email sent to faculty and staff by the
Office of the Provost.
The university conducted an inves-tigation
into allegations made by mul-tiple
individuals against Peterson,
and investigators’ reports were pro-vided
to Provost Patrick Farrell.
Before Farrell made a formal decision
about the case, Peterson informed
the university he was unconditional-ly
resigning his position.
“While Dr. Peterson’s resignation
made disciplinary action moot,” the
statement read, “(Farrell), following
his own review of the investigative
findings, determined there was suf-ficient
cause to initiate the process
that could result in revocation of ten-ure
and termination of employment.”
The university did not direct-ly
inform the student body about
Peterson’s departure.
In the fall, Peterson was listed
as the instructor for English 318,
Contemporary Black Poetics. After
the initial email was sent out to
JAMES PETERSON RESIGNS
the campus community in November
stating a faculty member was on paid
leave after being accused of sexu-al
misconduct, the course instructor
was changed to professor Monica
Miller on the Lehigh Portal.
Several individuals confirmed
anonymously to The Brown and
White last semester that they had
reported Peterson for sexual miscon-duct.
The Brown and White reached
out to Peterson and President
John Simon and has not received a
response as of publication. Farrell,
Lehigh University Police Chief Jason
Schiffer and English department
chair Dawn Keetley declined to pro-vide
further comment.
Peterson was supposed to be on
sabbatical this semester, as he was
selected as the Spring 2018 Nasir
Jones Hiphop Fellow at Harvard
University’s Hutchins Center
for African and African American
Research. According to the Hutchins
Center website, the fellowship is
given to those who “demonstrate
exceptional capacity for productive
scholarship and an exceptional cre-ative
ability in the arts, in connection
with Hiphop.”
The Brown and White has not
yet received a response regarding
Peterson’s fellowship status. As of
Jan. 18, his page on the Hutchins
Center website has been taken down.
Peterson was hired by Lehigh in
the summer of 2011 and, according
to the Africana studies page, was
“charged with reinvigorating and
expanding the program in unprece-dented
ways.” Under his leadership,
a cluster of new faculty was hired
between 2012 and 2015, and many
new courses were added to the pro-gram.
Peterson is the author of sever-al
books, including “The Hip Hop
Underground and African American
Culture,” “Prison Industrial Complex
for Beginners” and “Hip Hop
Headphones: A Scholar’s Critical
Playlist.” He founded Hip Hop
Scholars, Inc., an association of hip
See PETERSON Page 2
IFC announces ban on
hard alcohol
By JESSICA HICKS
News Editor
The Lehigh University
Interfraternity Council executive
board placed an indefinite ban
on hard alcohol at IFC-sponsored
events beginning Jan. 16.
According to the Lehigh Greeks
blog, any chapters found in vio-lation
of the ban are subject to,
“at a minimum, an indefinite sus-pension
of all chapter activities as
determined by the IFC executive
board.”
Ian Davis, ’18, the council pres-ident,
said the decision-making
process that led to the hard alcohol
ban began last semester with a
two week trial period. Davis said
he spoke to members of the fra-ternity
and sorority communities
at Michigan State University and
Ohio State University to see what
this indefinite ban might look like.
The suspension of fraternity
activity at Michigan State was
self-imposed by the university’s
interfraternity council while the
suspension at Ohio State was
enacted by university administra-tors.
“I used that to get an idea of the
national landscape,” Davis said. “I
think everything that happens at
Lehigh is a very similar situation
to what we see at a lot of other
schools.”
Davis said though many Lehigh
chapter presidents were on board
with the ban, enforcement is dif-ficult.
“When you’re dealing with smart
college kids who like pushing the
limit, they’ll try and find the
technicalities that they can get
around,” he said.
In his eyes, developing a sense
of trust among chapter presidents
is a large component of the policy’s
success, in addition to talking with
general members face to face.
Davis said he, along with other
See IFC Page 2
Cate Peterson/Managing Editor
In this Oct. 2, 2015, file photo, James Peterson, the director of Africana studies and a
professor of English, sits in his office in Drown Hall. Peterson resigned from his position
after he was accused of sexual misconduct by several individuals.
Q&A: Meet LUPD Chief
Jason Schiffer
By CATE PETERSON
Managing Editor
See Q&A Page 4
Africana studies director accused of sexual misconduct
New Lehigh University Police chief
and former Bethlehem Police chief
Jason D. Schiffer sat down with The
Brown and White to discuss his plans
for the future of LUPD and the cam-pus
community.
Q: You served as the Bethlehem
police chief from 2011-2013, how
do you think that will help you
to serve the Lehigh community
as the Lehigh police chief?
Jason D. Schiffer: Well, certain-ly
my experience leading a police
department, but I think probably
the most defining thing that will
help me as the Lehigh police chief
is my years as a beat cop here in
South Bethlehem — that defined me
more, I think, than the role of police
chief did. I was the neighborhood cop
here on the South Side, and my beat
was the area that surrounds Lehigh
University. So years of experience
,working in this exact neighborhood,
working with the business owners,
the community leaders, stakeholders
on campus, working with students
and all of the issues and concerns of
safety on and off campus.
Q: How do you envision the
ideal relationship between
Lehigh students and LUPD?
Schiffer: I would like it to be
a relationship of open communica-tion,
trust and one where students
can look to the Lehigh police depart-ment
for guidance and assistance
and (know) that we’re there to aid
in the entire education process. My
goal would be that we’re not just
viewed as the enemy or the enforcers
of laws, but that there can be some-thing
much greater than that… The
biggest population here on campus is
young adults and we would like to be
part of the process to educate them
and to provide them with the tools,