An advisory board member at Penn State York resigned from his role earlier this week after he was caught using a racist slur in a video posted to social media, The York Daily Record reported.
Jonathan Spanos, a local businessman, repeatedly referred to Black people using the N-word and said, “I am a racist,” according to a video posted online Sunday. Spanos resigned from the board on Monday, according to local news coverage, and he has since apologized for his outburst.
Spanos has reportedly served on the board since 2012. While Pennsylvania State University and its regional campuses are governed by a centralized Board of Trustees, advisory board members “serve as ambassadors for the campus … and are an important conduit for community feedback regarding campus programs and activities,” according to Penn State York’s website.
Officials condemned the language Spanos used, posting a reply to the video that read in part, “This hateful language has no place in our community and is not reflective of the University’s values or our desire to foster an inclusive environment.”
Local NAACP officials also condemned the language Spanos used as “deplorable.”
