<p>Definitely we should start arresting people when in it’s doubt who cut each other in line</p>
<p>How, pray tell, did he “lock” this young woman in the study room? Dead bolts lock from the inside (doesn’t yours?) This is what Abdi said he did concerning the dead bolt:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The picture it painted in my mind is that he turned the dead bolt latch so that the protruding portion, which would ordinarily engage within the strike plate when the door is closed, would be prevented from doing so now that the door was open. It would, in fact, prevent the door from closing altogether. It was his attempt to protect himself from being accused of assaulting or otherwise trapping this young woman in the room. </p>
<p>It sounds to me that Abdi was whacked by the police for getting too uppity, questioning the legality behind their actions, demanding an apology. If he’d been raised in this country, he’d undoubtedly know black men seldom fair well under such circumstances, especially if the police are already convinced the white girl was telling the truth. Especially when so many in this country believe it should be illegal for black men to question the actions of law enforcement, that that alone should get them thrown in jail. I guess we should add an amendment to the Constitution to enforce that.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So I guess that means they didn’t doubt the girl, even though her’s was the only side they listened to. Certainly they didn’t “detain” her.</p>
<p>So when the police arrived was the deadbold protruded or not? It is her claim that he closed the deadbolt and locked them both in the room. </p>
<p>The best scenario for him in my mind is that he had his back turned to the girl when he went to the door and, after opening the door a fraction, threw the deadbolt. She saw him at the door and heard the dead bolt get thrown and panicked, thinking that he had locked them both in the room. </p>
<p>Geesh, don’t the police have real crime to attend to besides having to monitor a squabble over a study room? I also can’t believe that she called the cops! I suppose that she thought the guy would cave once she got the cops on the phone. And then when she heard the deadbolt thrown, she panicked in earnest.</p>
<p>Stupid–stupid–stupid…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If indeed he was only gone long enough to retrieve his charger (the roughly seven minutes he claims it took), one could not rightfully call the room abandoned. If it became commonly agreed upon that merely leaving a study room instantly constitutes abandoning the right to use it, then nobody would ever get up to go to the restroom, or the snack machine, or jog back to their dorm to retrieve a book, Ipod, or charger, such would be the fear that their room would have been taken over by someone else upon their return. But, that’s not how it works on most campuses, is it? It’s commonly assumed that a room which shows signs that it’s being used by someone else is unavailable, unless the user has been gone for an unreasonable amount of time. Certainly, one would never imagine they’d be charged with “abduction” simply because they want the interloper to their hard won space to leave.</p>
<p>doesn’t detain just mean to question?</p>
<p>^^^It doesn’t mean “to question.” It means “to hold in custody,” often with the intent to question. As in, you are NOT free to leave.</p>
<p>Here’s a thought experiment for you–what if she had been the Muslim, and he had been white? How might the fact pattern look different to you?</p>
<p>I would just note that in a situation like this, everybody can be in the wrong to a greater or lesser degree. There doesn’t have to be anybody who is entirely in the right.</p>
<p>He left the room. She took the room. That’s the only information not in dispute. He then came back to the room and refused to leave it. She called the police. </p>
<p>The police in listening to the bare facts, asked him to leave. If he had just left and reported the incident to the dean of students and not tried to push the matter returning to the library, some better resolution would likely have been made. Had nothing to do with his being Muslim at all. I just had a similar thing happen to me where someone cut in line in front of me. I could have escalated it because, yes, I was angry. But she got in line in front of me and no one was going to physically move her and let me get in front of her. Just like no one was going to move the person who took the study carrel that was unoccupied, or take a dryer that had clothes in it and not moving. There are some unwritten rules of courtesy, yes, but when violated, you aren’t going to be able to stand on them. They are unwritten rules that depend on the courtesy of others and if they decide not to uphold them, you are out of luck. No one is going to eject the person who took your spot while you were gone.</p>
<p>She wouldn’t have called the cops on him if she weren’t disgusted by his ethnicity. No reasonable student would. i.e. it is so unreasonable an action that it must be motivated by hate.</p>
<p>Sounds like poor behavior on everyone’s part, but the Police should be there to make sure that a “grown-up’s” resolution is reached. These cops could have handled the situation better; sounds like they were just throwing their weight around. I can’t believe that this dispute or similar hasn’t occurred before on GMU campus, so cops should have known how to difuse it. Both students should have been asked to make an agreement between themselves about using the room, or else both be ejected from the library. Can’t say if his ethnicity had anything to do with it, but being a female and turning on the waterworks appeared to have worked for her.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Absolutely. Abdi claims he actually offered to share the room with the girl, but I suppose she believed he harbored some form of “foreign kooties”, and was grossed out at the prospect. I suppose as a “red-blooded American” attending an American university, she felt more entitled to the space than the foreigner (why are such people being allowed here anyway?:rolleyes:). There was nothing fair about this outcome. Certainly the actions of the GW police weren’t.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why did the police only detain half of the people involved??? (aka only the guy?)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>How many people have you seen forget ALL OF THEIR STUFF in a study room? It is not like he just left a calculator or a spiral notebook.</p>
<p>Why did the girl refuse to share the room?</p>
<p>Why the guy–they aremost likely to get physical or create more trouble. You only need to take one out to quiet the situation and when it’s male v female it will bt the male 99 times out of 100. </p>
<p>How much stuff to leave proves possession–who knows. I say you are gone you lose the room without a sign-up program. No saving. Your stuff goes on the curb so to speak. You could try leaving a note saying when you plan to return etc. Either you are there or not. Better schools rent the private study rooms by the term and you can use it whenever and have a key so you can leave stuff for weeks if you want.</p>
<p>Sharing a small study room with a stranger–not good. I rented my own carrel by the semester for about $25 and it was great because you could leave your books there and not carry them home every night. And you always had a quiet comfortbale spot to study.</p>
<p>Those study carrels are obviously at a premium at George Mason. Too many people, not enough carrels. It would be unfair to allow only a few people to rent them for entire semesters with the majority of students never even having a prayer of accessing them. And what’s wrong with sharing a study room with a stranger? I’m sure it happens all the time, and works out quite well when the people involved agree to mutual terms—you know, quiet and polite consideration. It’s even an opportunity to get to know someone, forge a possible friendship. For the life of me, I don’t understand why people are so selfish and close-minded.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I’d like to read an unbiased report of the incident. I’m sure the girl has her own version!</p></li>
<li><p>Seems like the RA didn’t use the conflict resolution skills he must have learned to become an RA.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wow. A lot of assumption taking place. Maybe she’s a histrionic shrew. Maybe the intensity of his anger frightened her. Maybe she’s jumpy because of a history of abuse in her family. Maybe she’s a bigot. We really don’t have the information to say what her motivation “must” be…</p>
<p>No, the truth is, no one who saw the other person as a equal human being would do such a thing. Her reaction was CLEARLY something like “omg there is a snake in the room call somebody”.</p>
<p>Even she was a histrionic shrew, it is obvious she wouldn’t have called the cops on a white person. </p>
<p>Therefore, she was motivated by hate. She is a perpetrator of a hate crime.</p>
<p>QED.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>being physical by staying there?</p>
<p>dude, most of the girls I know get physical before the guys do.</p>