The board heard from an upset student, political science junior Matthew Bedard, and an alumnus, Chris Fitzsimmons, who voiced their displeasure with the situation.

“I think we’ll all agree that they were not only offensive, but reprehensible and unacceptable. His hateful rant … put a faculty member on a national stage for the whole country to see,” Fitzsimmons said.

He added that the remarks were racist and an example of bullying.

Bedard, president of MSU Campus Conservatives, said the removal of Penn from classes was an excellent first step in what should be a continuing process in disciplining him to preserve trust in the university. None of the trustees responded to either set of remarks.

An ad hoc Faculty Committee is being put together to address the overarching issue of professors’ rights and responsibilities in the classroom in light of technology and social media, professor Sue Carter said. Carter is the chairperson of MSU’s Steering Committee, which directs university policy and process to the Board of Trustees, among other things.

“Recent events have prompted us to look at academic rights and responsibilities and we believe it’s important to take a global view, not just focus one particular incident with regard to classroom debate and classroom discussion,” Carter said.

The committee will present their report by the end of the year.

The board also got a report on preliminary fall enrollment numbers, which show a record enrollment of about 49,300 students, with a freshman class of about 7,890. The freshman class is down by about 300 students from 2012.

During the meeting, the board approved two construction projects — one to renovate part of the second floor of the Administration Building and another to install a new chiller for Olin Health Center.