Santa Clara University investigating after Black professor details harassment by campus security
The president of Santa Clara University in California issued an apology on Sunday and launched an investigation after a Black assistant professor said she and her brother were harassed in a racially motivated encounter with campus security over the weekend.
Danielle Fuentes Morgan, an assistant professor in the university’s English department, detailed the incident on Saturday in a 21-part Twitter thread that was retweeted tens of thousands of times.
Santa Clara University security just harassed me and my brother and forced me (a faculty member) to show my campus ID to prove I live in the house WHERE I OPENED THE DOOR. A thread. (1/n)
— Danielle Fuentes Morgan (@mos_daf) August 22, 2020
Morgan said her brother, who was visiting, was sitting outside on campus with his laptop for a work meeting when campus security officers approached and told him to move along. Then they followed him to the street, she said, where four security cars were present. She said her brother proceeded to her house.
“I opened the door and my brother said, “I’m so sorry about this. They’re demanding you come out and vouch for me.” I, of course, knew exactly who ‘they’ were,” Morgan wrote.
She claimed one officer “very aggressively” demanded to see her campus ID “to prove you are who he says you are and that you actually live here.” She said her husband, who is white, told the officer she was not obligated to show it, prompting the officer to call his supervisor.
When she asked the officer to explain the issue, he claimed her brother was acting “suspicious”:
I asked what the issue was and he said my brother was "in the bushes" and it was "suspicious" and they thought he may have been homeless. I asked why I needed to show ID at my own home. He said "Well, it's not your home. The University owns it." (9/n)
— Danielle Fuentes Morgan (@mos_daf) August 22, 2020
I told them that I was one of 7 Black faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences and that our student body population is 2% Black. I told them that the anti-Blackness they espouse and practice is part of the reason why. (10/n)
— Danielle Fuentes Morgan (@mos_daf) August 22, 2020
“My husband told them that this was anti-Black and despicable. He told them that they don’t harass anyone white on campus, ever,” Morgan added. “He told them they only harass Black students and faculty, and that following him to a second and third location was punitive.”
She said her neighbor then came over and vouched for her living there:
My husband asked why they brought four cars. They said for safety. He asked for whose safety. They said "the officers's safety." He told them that he didn't care about their safety and was concerned for his brother-in-law's safety. (15/n)
— Danielle Fuentes Morgan (@mos_daf) August 22, 2020
At this point, they told us they didn't have any guns on them, so my brother wasn't in danger. I was aghast that they explained he wasn't in danger because they weren't armed, not because he wasn't a threat or because they wouldn't hurt him, but because they COULDN'T. (16/n)
— Danielle Fuentes Morgan (@mos_daf) August 22, 2020
When her husband asked officers how their family should act in order to not be harassed, Morgan said the officers advised them to “stay in open spaces.”
“That answer is unclear and insufficient, and I am concerned now to go back to campus AND to live in this house,” she said.
SCU President Kevin O’Brien has since issued a statement, saying he is “deeply sorry” and that an internal investigation was underway:
To Professor @mos_daf and her family: I am deeply sorry for the hurtful incident that happened today @santaclarauniv.
No work is more important than our efforts to realize a more inclusive, welcoming and safe campus where all are respected and valued. pic.twitter.com/KCA50RitP4— Kevin O'Brien, S.J. (@kevinobriensj) August 23, 2020
It’s unclear what repercussions the campus security officers might face for the incident. HuffPost has reached out to USC for comment.
In a Change.org petition directed at university leadership, faculty and staff members called for an independent investigation, comprehensive review of USC’s management and culture and consideration of defunding police activity on campus.
“We are profoundly saddened and angered by this incident and the behavior of these ‘Safety’ officers,” the petition states. “At a time when the entire nation is focused on the impact of generations of abuse of communities of color by the police, it is particularly appalling that such an incident took place on our campus, which has been so strongly associated with social justice and equity here in the United States and around the world.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.