Sigh…
Have these incidents gotten worse or are we just hearing more about them? It’s just astounds me that people are calling the police on people who are doing nothing out of the ordinary. This employee must know that there are students of color at Smith.
I don’t understand why one wouldn’t approach the person, say hello & ask if he or she needs anything before feeling the need to call security or police.
I find it also disturbing that the campus police officer did not have a sense that there was no reason of concern and stay away from bothering the student, even after the college employee made the call. Besides the race factor, what’s up with such a closed door policy on college campuses that goes to extreme efforts to keep individuals out? It’s not like a class of preschoolers that need special protection. Colleges need to step up to their wider mission outside of just educating an exclusive group of students and make an effort to be inclusive to the wider community and public.
At this point I can only think individuals have some sick desire to cause trouble for people of color. Why in the world would the employee call the police.
In an interview the student said “I speak four languages, I’m sure one of them would’ve worked if she had just talked to me”
So exasperating, but also so horrendously ubiquitous. The student was smart to video the encounter. I hope it shows others in the dining hall stepping forward in support??
Hard to know if this story would have gotten traction outside of the Pioneer Valley if similar campus stories had not recently gone viral. Do the campus police not have a protocol for asking about a situation before dispatching an officer to the scene? Like, making the caller state their specific concern about the “suspicious” behavior? AARRGHHH!!!
We are visiting Smith next Monday with D20 – will be interesting to see if it comes up in info session or tour, from the college or from visitors.
Smith is fairly diverse which so I can only draw one conclusion as to why the cops were called.
The employee has been placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/diversity/campus-police-call
@partyof5–agree completely–D graduated from Mt Holyoke across the river from Smith and both schools are incredibly diverse, with students from around the world–this one’s a head scratcher.
Smith College has handled the situation with sincere concern & swift action.
No one acquainted with this school would ever think that it would discriminate against any person of color–unless maybe the color was white & wearing a MAGA hat. But that would be political, not racist, and might happen on any liberal NE campus.
Without any comment from the employee, It’s a one sided story. Sure it looks bad from that side, but maybe there was something that caused concern. What did the employee tell the dispatcher – that there was a person sitting on a couch? I would think it had to be more than that to get the police to act.
I have been following this story a little bit as it is amazing that a far-left liberal college that considers itself a model community for social equality (except perhaps conservatives - but I digress) has some of the same social stigmas as the rest of the general population. However, I thought about it and put myself in the shoes of the person who called and thought again: What would you do if you were in a building that you thought was empty except for yourself and office-mates. You walk by a room and see somebody you don’t recognize as working there laying on a couch. Since you have never seen that person before and you are in a building that you thought was generally empty, wouldn’t that person seem “out of place?” It really doesn’t matter skin color. However, I also agree that I don’t understand why the reporting person didn’t approach the “relaxing” student and ask “What’s up?” rather than running to the phone to call campus police. It is unfortunate that every interaction between a person of color and a white person is immediately viewed through the lens of racism before anything else. Sadly - there are a lot of other reasons why we can’t get along with each other besides the color of our skin.
"In the transcript of the police call, the employee who made the report tells a dispatcher, “I was just walking through here in the front foyer of [redacted] and we have a person sitting there laying down in the living room area over here. I didn’t approach her or anything but he seems to be out of place … umm … I don’t see anybody in the building at this point and I don’t know what he’s doing in there, just laying on the couch.”
So not just sitting and eating lunch happily as reported in some accounts–laying on the couch with nobody else around. In a front foyer.
Not a crime of course but the employee didn’t say there was one.
The person just “seems out of place” and asked somebody else to check things out. They were being cautious so called someone else. Nobody else was around according to employee (from the transcript anyway).
So an officer came and said “why are you here?” Answer: “I’m teaching with a summer program.”
Officer: “Okay”. Over and done. Mystery solved.
But good enough to become another story on racism with facts left out.
Maybe the story should be to not take naps in public spaces.
According to the transcript of the call it wasn’t more than that. The employee basically said there’s a woman on the couch who looks “out of place,” and they didn’t know what she was doing there.
I don’t think the campus police have a choice about responding. If they get a call, I think they have to respond to it.
Actually when I read the transcript the pronoun “he” was used twice by caller. I think the employee thought short haired woman was a male. Not making any excuses but a male at Smith would seem out of place.
Read here:
I was just walking through here in the front foyer of [redacted] and we have a person sitting there laying down in the living room area over here. I didn’t approach her or anything but he seems to be out of place … umm … I don’t see anybody in the building at this point and I don’t know what he’s doing in there, just laying on the couch."
@gouf78 sadly, I think you are correct. I have a feeling Smith will hang this employee out to dry even if there isn’t any racism just to prove to everyone they really do have a social utopia. Because this story has received press I don’t see how Smith will be able to save face unless they do something. They are already falling all over themselves to prevent fall semester demonstrations.
The caller also refers to “her.”
They don’t have male teachers? Janitors? Cafeteria workers? Office workers?
It’s a phone transcript. It could have come out with “he” rather than “she” depending on how clear it was.
Isn’t Smith part of a consortium so male students should not look out of place (although I think the person’s gender is irrelevant)? I’m not sure why so many people are defending this caller. The incident is similar to the reaction of the parent calling the campus police when two Native American students joined a CSU tour and made her uncomfortable, but the caller was a Smith employee and that’s worse.
The student has been interviewed and it is available on You Tube. I’m sorry - she’s a bit over the top. She’s clearly out for revenge and her social media posts about the incident include name-calling. Frankly - there is nothing in the news about the race of the caller. The student doesn’t even know who the caller is so how can she know the color of his/her skin? She said a Smith employee was with the campus officer when he spoke to her but there is no indication if she was the caller or her race. My boss is a woman of color - she believes this student is “way overboard” and that you can’t say race was an issue in this case without facts.