Protestors claim U. Police used excess, undue force

CHARLES ORNSTEIN and CARA TANAMACHI Following allegations that University Police and University Museum security used an "undue level of physical restraint" yesterday morning in dealing with protestors, administrators have taken drastic actions to investigate the incident and review police operating procedures. University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said his department is "sincerely concerned" about allegations that an officer used unnecessary physical force while interacting with students who allegedly stole copies of The Daily Pennsylvanian from distribution sites across campus. Effective immediately and pending investigation, the officer involved in this incident is being removed from patrol operations, Kuprevich said in a statement released late last night. And the Museum security guard, who is also being accused of using unnecessary physical force yesterday, will be kept out of "sensitive" positions until an investigation is completed, President Sheldon Hackney said. Hackney, Kuprevich and Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson declined to provide any details of the incidents allegedly involving unnecesary force. Kuprevich said a committee -- led by Provost Michael Aiken and Executive Vice President Janet Hale -- will be formed in order to address the larger question of University Police procedures related to campus activities. The committee will consist of students, faculty and police experts and will report directly to Aiken and Hale. University administrators met in closed-door meetings throughout the day and late into the evening to discuss the day's activities and after their meeting adjourned, student protestors marched to Hackney's house with a list of demands. "It got very confused I know," Hackney said of the day's events prior to his meeting with students. "There was a good bit of turmoil." The day began for students and administrators when a group calling themselves the "Black Community" allegedly stole nearly all 14,000 copies of The Daily Pennsylvanian from distribution sites across campus. After the alleged incidents of unnecessary physical force occurred, a meeting between Kuprevich and a number of black students began in the University Police Annex. That meeting, according to Kuprevich, lasted between three and four hours. At about 8 p.m., members of the Black Student League, black students and other minority students gathered in DuBois College House for a closed-door meeting. The DP was unable to gain access to this meeting. Two hours later, when the meeting ended, about 30 students marched to Hackney's house with a list of demands. It appeared that a few of the students entered Hackney's home, gave the demands and returned to DuBois House. Among the students' demands were the right to know more about both investigations -- into yesterday's activities and into University Police policy. Hackney said the students wanted the results of those investigations to be made public. They also wanted to know by today what was going to happen to the museum guard, Hackney said. University administrators said throughout the course of the night that they believe the students involved had many motivations for their actions. They added that they would deal with and respond to the situation immediately. "It is an unfortunate incident and we will treat it as a serious incident," Hackney said, before the students reached his home. "Both the student behavior and the behavior of the campus police and the building guard will be investigated and pursued." Hackney said yesterday's events are part of a larger, long-standing problem -- filled with anger and tension. "Today's events are only an expression of deeper running feelings on the campus and in society in general," Hackney said. "And those more important, deep feelings about the ways in which we relate to each other on campus need to be discussed and resolved by the entire campus community. "I think they go beyond [the way] black students feel they are treated by police," he continued. "The way we all treat each other is the bigger issue. We will examine the particular incident today and make sure justice is done, but the bigger issues will remain and we can not let them fester." Morrisson agreed that the DP thefts are part of a bigger picture. "I think that we are dealing with a situation that is extremely fraught with tension that is not the result of a single incident," Morrisson said. "It grows out of perceptions by students about the role of the paper and there are a host of [other] issues associated with the events of today." Hackney attributed part of the anger and tension on campus to the police brutality trial currently in the hands of the jury in Los Angeles, which stemmed from the alleged use of excessive force on motorist Rodney King by four white police officers. "One never expects particular things to happen," Hackney said. "A lot of people on campus, especially African-Amercians, have been feeling increasingly frustrated. And that's something that the King trial has brought to the surface -- these issues of intergroup relations." Many students in the black community declined to comment on yesterday's activities, but students not involved said they did not agree with the protestors' tactics. Wharton sophomore Shadman Raaz said he thought the protest was "childish." "Other means could've been used," he said. "They should have written a letter to the DP voicing their concerns." Hackney said yesterday's activities were a setback to progress being made in the area of race relations. "I am very saddened that this comes up," he said. "I think we were genuinely working at the underlying problems and making some progress and today's events set us back considerably."

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