Students at N.C. State e-mailed their concerns to Student Government officials n response to the controversy of an Iranian-American University of California – Los Angeles student who was tasered on campus after refusing to show Campus Police his ID because he felt he was being racially profiled.
“We had students contact us with concerns,” Will Quick, student body president, said. “I felt it was my responsibility to ask those questions for them.”
Quick said he contacted Tom Younce, director of Campus Police, with the students’ concerns in regards to racial profiling and the use of tasers.
Younce sent copies of the taser, ID checks and racial profiling policies to Quick.
“I kind of identified the rules … and a couple of rules officers can’t violate,” Younce said.
Younce declined to comment on what he thought of the UCLA student’s situation because he doesn’t yet have the full story.
“UCLA’s administration is conducting an investigation to what was going on, so I don’t think it is appropriate to comment on that,” he said.
Sanas Javadian, junior in international studies and president of the Iranian Student Association, said whether or not the student at UCLA was racially profiled, the UCLA campus police’s response to the student was appalling. She said regardless of the student’s behavior, the police should not have used such force, tasering him repeatedly and then asking him to get up.
“[The situation] could happen anywhere and it should be a wake-up call to all of us,” she said. “People think they’re safe and there are a lot of times when I’m at the library late and I don’t have my ID. I don’t know what could happen.”
Javadian said the University’s policy that all students should carry their All-Campus IDs with them on campus is good in principle but enforcing it may be a different story.
Chancellor James L. Oblinger approved this policy and it began to take effect in August 2006.
“[The Student Senate] felt by requiring people to carry IDs on campus, it could lend to the potential of racial profiling,” Quick said.
To oppose the requirement to carry IDs at all times for this reason, the Student Senate proposed a resolution, which the Senate adopted Nov. 1. The Senate has been working on this resolution even before the incident at UCLA.
N.C. State also has a policy on racial profiling.
“[The administration] realizes racial profiling has always been an issue, especially since 9-11,” Quick said.
Javadian said the Iranian Student Association was going to release a petition against racial profiling if, after investigation, the UCLA student is found to have been mistreated because of his race.
“First off, [the situation] needs to be clarified,” Javadian said. “We do empathize with what happened, and as students at the University, it could happen to any of us. But, as an Iranian, the situation needs to be assessed further to see what really did happen.”
Quick said he saw the video of the incident on YouTube.com after learning about the incident from various students.
“I was pretty shocked at how brutal it looked on the video,” he said.
Quick said he is optimistic in Campus Police’s abilities but said that racial profiling may still occur because the officers are human, but the officers should never resort to using weapons so easily.
He said he assumes that there will some sort of method to get students to do what the Campus Police say when stopping them, but said students should not create unnecessary trouble.
“I encourage any student to cooperate with Campus Police and not assume [he or she] is being racially discriminated against,” he said.
Quick said Student Government is always ready to help students when they approach them with complaints and even Campus Police takes complaints about its officers, but students shouldn’t try to create a scene initially. Javadian said she has only had brief encounters with Campus Police when she has requested an escort at night and said they seemed very nice.
“We just have to hope for the best and be mindful of what happens and use that as a strength and not as a weakness,” she said.
According to Javadian, as long as the officers know their rules and regulations and know what is crossing the line, there will be no problems with racial profiling.
“They need to make sure they are enforcing the right kind of rules,” she said.
The video of the UCLA campus police tasering the student: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GsXpRZmbm1Y
