College senior Dimitri Dube and the leaders of several minority student groups met with Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush and Chief of Police Tom Rambo last night, just days after Dube claimed that he was targeted by Penn Police officers on two separate occasions early Saturday morning, partly due to his race.
Dube has claimed that at approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday, he was approached by an officer while he was reading a magazine and standing in the 7-Eleven on 38th and Chestnut streets. Dube claims that the officer asked him to leave the store because the clerks did not want him reading their magazines.
Dube also claims that he was stopped while on his way back to Harrison College House after going to the 7-Eleven at 42nd and Walnut streets by two other officers who pulled their car onto the sidewalk in front of him. He claims that the officers told him to put his hands on the car, and that the officers questioned him about his destination.
After showing the officers his Penn ID, Dube said, the officers let him return to his room.
On Monday, Rush said the department planned to investigate Dube's allegations, and that she and Rambo would take the issue very seriously.
Dube, who is the political action research coordinator for UMOJA, attended last night's meeting, as did representatives from the United Minorities Council, the Black Student League, the Latino Coalition and the Asian Pacific Student Coalition.
"We had a discussion to see how we could communicate better with the police," said Wharton junior Sabrina Harvey, spokeswoman for the Latino Coalition.
According to Asian Pacific Student Coalition Chairwoman Eugena Oh, at last night's meeting, Dube raised the question of what would have happened if he were not a Penn student and the officers had stopped him.
Rush and Rambo "said the procedure may have taken a couple of minutes," Oh said. "They would have had to check for identification... but would have let him go."
While some students are divided over the details of Dube's claims, UMC Chairman Papa Wassa Nduom said he believes Dube's account of the incident and that it is not an isolated case.
"I was not surprised to hear that it happened," Nduom said, citing multiple other Penn students he could name who he believes have been harassed by police officers. "Personally I think race was definitely a factor."
"How do they respond to calls of suspicious persons?" asked Nduom. "What is going through a police officer's head?"
Other students also spoke in support of Dube's claims.
"It's common at Penn," Wharton junior and Alpha Phi Alpha chaplain Weldon McMillan said.
"Considering the fact that [the officers] went to such expense, pushing him against the car... to them it was a serious incident, they had preconceptions," said Darcy Richie, College sophomore and UMC Vice-Chairwoman.
However, while some students voiced strong support for the arguments Dube is making, others simply said they were pleased the matter was at least being looked into by Penn.
"I am pleased this is getting prompt, serious, and thoughtful attention from the highest levels of the University," said College senior and Undergraduate Assembly Chairwoman Dana Hork. "I am glad all parties are engaged in honest discourse."
Students involved in last night's discussion said they looked forward to continuing discussion on this and other matters with the Penn police.
"We are in the midst of planning a forum with the University Police to address minority community-police relations on our campus and increase knowledge and awareness of the issues on both sides," said Oh.
Nduom added he would like to see a "continued dialogue... a better partnership between the police community and students."
