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Cal Poly faculty union accuses university police of racial profiling
The union representing Cal Poly faculty is alleging that the University Police Department racially profiled a member of staff during a “disturbing and humiliating” traffic stop on campus.
The message does not elaborate on details of the alleged incident, including the name of the alleged victim or the date of the traffic stop. Though it made no specific demands for discipline, the union asked faculty and students to come forward with any similar experiences.
University President Jeffrey Armstrong responded to the allegations in a email late Friday, saying the administration is conducting an investigation — and recommends involving the California Attorney General’s Office — but criticized the union’s message as “inflammatory and destructive at a sensitive time on our campus.”
The executive board of the Cal Poly chapter of the California Faculty Association sent an email to university staff Thursday reporting that earlier in the quarter, a “faculty member of color” was pulled over by campus police and handcuffed.
“We suspect that the faculty member was racially profiled since the faculty member was given no reason for being stopped,” the message reads, noting that the faculty member’s person and vehicle were searched for weapons before he or she was released “with no citation or an apology.”
“The treatment that this faculty member was subjected to was disturbing and humiliating, and the faculty member’s dignity was severely compromised,” the email says. “The faculty member continues to fear being randomly stopped again by campus police.”
The board wrote that the faculty member came to the union “because of the loss of confidence in the institution of Cal Poly and for fear of possible retribution for lodging a complaint to the university regarding the campus police.”
‘Watch out for each other’
The email cites Article 16 (non-discrimination) and Article 37 (safety) of the union’s collective bargaining agreement, which states that faculty in the CSU system should expect to be treated without consideration for their ethnicity or color, and that they should not fear for their personal safety while on campus.
“Being profiled, being randomly stopped by the campus police, and fearing for retribution for complaining violates both of the above articles in the contract,” the email reads.
The association said that the issue is not unique to Cal Poly, and that the union recently convened a Safety Task Force to address issues of discrimination. Given the discomfort many faculty of color feel with the police on numerous campuses, the association said, the task force is considering asking for “alternatives to traditional policing” on CSU campuses to mitigate the problem.
“Given these events and given that faculty expectations of non-discrimination and safety have not always been met at Cal Poly, CFA SLO is asking any faculty to report to the chapter (at CFA_SLO@calfac.org) or Neal MacDougall, the faculty rights chair (at nmacdougall@calfac.org) any past occurrences of inappropriate treatment or discrimination that have occurred on campus that might be a violation of Articles 16 and 37 as described above,” the message reads. “If such incidents occur in the future, we should also be contacted.”
“We not only wish to ensure that the university be made aware of what is happening but also that the university be held fully accountable for resolving these issues and ensuring that they do not reoccur as has been the case historically,” the email says.
The statewide CFA office has a website where members may also anonymously report bias-related incidents upon which the union can act.
The association chapter wrote that it’s currently considering next steps and asks staff to respect the faculty member’s privacy “to prevent an even greater loss of dignity and to help ensure the faculty member’s safety in the community.”
The chapter also asked faculty, staff and students to “watch out for each other and that if you see something, you should say something.”
“We are a community, and it is imperative that we come to grips with what continues to happen on campus in a meaningful and honest way. Given how little progress has been achieved to date at Cal Poly, we must start depending on ourselves as a community of faculty, staff and students to do the real work of racial justice and social transformation that this campus so sorely needs and demand more progress from ourselves and the administration,” the email concludes.
Cal Poly president responds
Cal Poly has in recent years been criticized for a lack of ethnic diversity on campus, as well as a series of racially charged incidents, including students photographed in blackface, swastika vandalism, and allegations of racial discrimination.
In a message sent to faculty on Friday, Armstrong said the university is not aware of details surrounding the alleged incident involving the faculty member, but it is investigating.
“This is the first the university has heard of this allegation,” Armstrong wrote. “We, the university administration, take any and all incidents of racial injustice and inequity extremely seriously. We are troubled to learn of these allegations, and our concern is with following our processes for investigating them and supporting the alleged victim.”
He wrote that immediately upon learning of the allegation, administrators made an initial search through fall quarter incidents and found no traffic stop or other University Police Department interaction matching the description detailed in the email.
“The university will continue to investigate this matter — but we have no other information beyond what is in the CFA SLO email. We are seeking additional details that would help pinpoint the date and time of the alleged interaction, so that we can reference saved body camera and dash camera footage, which UPD uses to record and log officer stops and interactions throughout their shifts,” Armstrong wrote.
Dashboard cameras are automatically activated and the footage logged at the time a squad car turns on its lights or siren to initiate a stop, he wrote.
But Armstrong also called it “frustrating” that the union is not cooperating with the administration’s investigation.
“(They) have been unwilling to provide any further information,” Armstrong wrote. “We find it frustrating that CFA SLO would raise such a serious allegation, while refusing to provide any details — even the date of the alleged incident — that could help the university investigate the allegations.”
The university says it intends to hire an impartial, third-party investigator to review the allegations and establish the facts, and are willing to work with CFA SLO on choosing that investigator. Armstrong also wrote that administrators believe the serious nature of the allegations warrant a request for review by the California deputy attorney general.
Armstrong also blasted the tone of the CFA email.
“(The union’s) suggestion that the university does not care about incidents of racism on Cal Poly’s campus is inaccurate, inflammatory and destructive at a sensitive time on our campus,” he wrote. “We implore the CFA SLO to work with the university as partners in addressing incidents of racism and injustice and holding accountable those responsible.”