The Dangers of Respectability Rhetoric at Lincoln University

Lately Lincoln University of Pennsylvania has been in the news for the wrong reason. Its president. University President, Robert Jennings, went on a completely inappropriate and inflammatory diatribe about long dresses, “respectable” women, and predatory black men.

The discussion was a mess and highlights antiquated notions of modesty on how young women should behave. The discussion was misguided because it blamed black men raised by single mothers for their imputed criminality. The discussion was dangerous because he asked women to consider the consequences to the men or reporting sexual assault and rape allegations to authorities.

This isn’t a student or even a professor talking. It’s the UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT. Jennings is charged to not only ensure adequate education for Lincoln University’s students, but also to ensure their welfare. Thus, it is not surprising that Lincoln University faculty recently cast a “no confidence” vote in Jennings.

Exacerbating this debacle is the illustrious history of the school. Lincoln University of Pennsylvania is this country’s oldest Historically Black College. A Presbyterian minister named, John Miller Dickey, and a Quaker woman named, Sarah Emlen Cresson, founded Lincoln College (then named Ashmun Institute) in 1854 to educate African Americans. This was 1854, over ten years before enslavement was squelched in the American South. It counts among its notable alumni, Thurgood Marshall, Langston Hughes, Cab Calloway, Kwame Nkrumah, and Gil Scott-Heron.

It was a school founded by social reformers who adapted the school’s motto, If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” from the “good news” gospel according to John in chapter 8 verse 36. Jennings rhetoric sounds like anything but a pathway to liberation.

Watch Jennings deliver his “advice” to the women of Lincoln below and read more on his tumultuous tenure at Lincoln at Inside Higher Ed.

~Fredara M. Hadley (@fredaraMareva), Musiqology Managing Editor

UPDATE: On Monday, November 24th, the Lincoln University Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of Robert Jennings.