CHE: Was this Latino professor racially profiled?

[Wahoo Redux]

CHE: A Professor Alleged Racial Profiling by a Campus Police Officer. Then Things Escalated.

Peeps might also opine on the professor's actions after the event.  Is he overreacting?  Is he unfairly (maybe ironically) stereotyping the police?  Or are the challenges of being a minority on campus understandable in this circumstance?

[Anon1787]

It seems more likely that the professor is stereotyping the police. I'd like to see a response to the claim that the police supervisor who made the decision was unaware of the professor's race (the body camera footage supports that claim).

The policy should be changed. I've taught evening classes and administrative staff is usually long gone, so there is no one around to help in a situation like this.

[mamselle]

Reminds me of this situation:

   https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/us/politics/23gates.html

It happens.

M.

[Wahoo Redux]

I do wonder why the cop didn't just pull out his phone and put this guy into Google.  He or his supervisor could have easily seen that Osuna is a faculty member.

[apl68]

I do wonder why the cop didn't just pull out his phone and put this guy into Google.  He or his supervisor could have easily seen that Osuna is a faculty member.

Only last night I was talking to a friend at church who is a state trooper, who does just that with his stops.  He's pulled over a couple of surprisingly well-known people on our isolated highways.

[financeguy]

There's a very good reason why those in security or law enforcement often do not do this, or at least allow it to serve as a form of verification. I used to work security while finishing school years ago when smart phones were not common but we had people say "this is me on the employee wall inside" or "here I am in the newsletter" or some other form of "this is obviously who I am." The problem with that is that when someone has just been terminated, that is the time where they are likely to attempt to take items or otherwise cause a problem. We have IDs which are collected upon termination for a reason.

[Anon1787]

There's a very good reason why those in security or law enforcement often do not do this, or at least allow it to serve as a form of verification. I used to work security while finishing school years ago when smart phones were not common but we had people say "this is me on the employee wall inside" or "here I am in the newsletter" or some other form of "this is obviously who I am." The problem with that is that when someone has just been terminated, that is the time where they are likely to attempt to take items or otherwise cause a problem. We have IDs which are collected upon termination for a reason.

Good point. Faculty webpages are frequently out of date.

[Langue_doc]

He doesn't appear to have been profiled, given his "lost" ID. All he had to do was to say that despite the lost ID, he could show them some kind of proof (his keys, access to his course on Blackboard or Canvas, or some other tangible evidence that he was faculty).

I used to teach evening classes for several years in a row. I would make it a point to introduce myself to the security staff as well as to the janitors at the beginning of the semester. I recall having to ask a janitor to let me into the office because I had locked myself out.

[EdnaMode]

I don't think the professor was necessarily profiled by the officer. A couple of years ago I was working on a Saturday, left my office for some reason, and the door locked behind me with my keys and ID on my desk. Thankfully I had my mobile phone in my hoodie pocket and called Police & Safety and explained that I was stupid and had just locked myself out of my office. They asked if I had ID and I said it was locked in my office. When the officer got there, he said he would go in first without me when I said that my office keys were on top of my desk attached to my ID (I need my ID to swipe into labs), and my handbag with additional ID was in the big pullout drawer in my desk. He went in, checked my ID, came back out, let me in my office, and wished me a good rest of the weekend. I doubt he'd have let me in my office if I didn't have any ID at all with me because I was dressed like a hobo (old jeans, a tattered hoodie that was probably older than the officer) and if he had done a webpage search, I look absolutely nothing like my official photo on the department faculty page - have put on some weight and have much longer hair that is a different color than it was when those photos were taken ten years ago.

[Hibush]

The police union's letter asking for the professor to be investigated seems like the key unnecessary escalation. It goes beyond the procedure for managing disagreements like this.

[secundem_artem]

Nobody looks good here.  That said, it's the po po that have chosen to escalate this issue.

[Wahoo Redux]

Nobody looks good here.  That said, it's the po po that have chosen to escalate this issue.

As always, we need to be fair. 

The po po is arguing that the officer involved did nothing wrong, he followed procedure, and now he is being accused of one of the worst things a po po can be accused of in this day and age.  The head po po argues that this could affect the little po po's career and personal life, especially since the professor went public and is getting national headlines----these are reasonable arguments.  Collegiate people sometimes throw around the "racist" label with abandon.  Doing so cost Oberlin some really bad PR and a lot of money.

The professor did not have ID in his office either.  He had no way to prove who he was.

As I understand it, the responding po po is a minority himself, making this even more fraught.

No, the cops have their point of view and are fighting back. 

[Langue_doc]

According to the article, the professor claimed to have lost his IDs while on vacation.

Osuna informed the officer that he had no ID because he had lost his driver's license and campus ID card while on vacation. But the officer said he could not open the door unless Osuna had an ID.

Was he driving without his driver's license? If he had been given a ticket for driving without a license, would he have complained about being profiled?

[Hibush]

Nobody looks good here.  That said, it's the po po that have chosen to escalate this issue.

As always, we need to be fair. 

The po po is arguing that the officer involved did nothing wrong, he followed procedure, and now he is being accused of one of the worst things a po po can be accused of in this day and age.  The head po po argues that this could affect the little po po's career and personal life, especially since the professor went public and is getting national headlines----these are reasonable arguments.  Collegiate people sometimes throw around the "racist" label with abandon.  Doing so cost Oberlin some really bad PR and a lot of money.

The professor did not have ID in his office either.  He had no way to prove who he was.

As I understand it, the responding po po is a minority himself, making this even more fraught.

No, the cops have their point of view and are fighting back.

When the cops are fighting the people they are supposed to be serving, there is a problem.  The institution has procedures that provide due process even when the people invovled are at odds.

[marshwiggle]

According to the article, the professor claimed to have lost his IDs while on vacation.

Osuna informed the officer that he had no ID because he had lost his driver's license and campus ID card while on vacation. But the officer said he could not open the door unless Osuna had an ID.

Was he driving without his driver's license? If he had been given a ticket for driving without a license, would he have complained about being profiled?

No doubt.