A Spruce College House associate master was allegedly attacked and detained by University Police last weekend while attempting to deliver a set of donated bicycles to the Quadrangle, sources said.
The incident has raised concerns about the possibility of racial profiling, given that the associate master is black.
Rui DaSilva, who resides in Spruce with his wife, Director of American and Latino Studies and Faculty Master Ann Farnsworth-Alvear and their two children, was released after being arrested last Saturday for what a college house official said was "absolutely" no wrongdoing.
While DaSilva was initially scheduled to appear in court, charges against him were dropped after University officials intervened.
According to Spruce College House Dean Marilynne Diggs-Thompson, DaSilva's apprehension was a result of gross misunderstanding.
"There is absolutely no question that there is any wrongdoing on his part," she said repeatedly.
According to a University Spectaguard, the incident occurred last Saturday afternoon, between 2:30 and 3 p.m. DaSilva was carrying bicycles into the Quad when he was approached by a female Penn Police officer, the Spectaguard said.
The police officer, apparently assuming he had stolen the bikes, confronted DaSilva, the Spectaguard said. The officer did not give him an opportunity to present his PennCard or any other form of identification.
After calling for backup, the female police officer "maced" DaSilva, the guard said. He later had to seek hospital treatment.
Diggs-Thompson said that she was aware DaSilva would be bringing a number of bicycles into the Quad. He had announced in a memo the previous week that bikes donated by his family as well as other faculty members would be made available for student use.
University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said she was "90 percent sure" that DaSilva was arrested for resisting arrest, but that the charges have since been dropped.
Vice President of Public Safety Maureen Rush would not comment on the incident, deferring all questions to Doyle.
DaSilva and Farnsworth-Alvear, who also declined to discuss details of the incident, said they remain shaken up.
"We've had a really, really upsetting week," Farnsworth-Alvear said.
"It was an unfortunate incident," Doyle said. "Through good communication and cooperation with everyone involved, the matter has been resolved."
However, Farnsworth-Alvear said that she and her husband are continuing to work on resolving the issue, and are currently "involved with conversations" with University administrators and will attend "meetings at the vice presidential level" this week.
The Spectaguard said that in a conversation subsequent to the incident, DaSilva stressed his continuing concern about it.
"He couldn't understand himself why he was attacked like that," the guard said.
"He was glad that his children weren't around to see the incident," he added.
Since last weekend, Farnsworth-Alvear has met with resident advisers and graduate associates in Spruce to discuss the incident.
"We had a staff meeting in which I let them know about this, because I didn't want them to find out about it by rumor," she said.
The discussions included addressing "how we as a staff can make sure that students of color feel comfortable in the Quad," she said.
"I think it's important, in general, that every person on our campus and every member of our community is treated fairly" Diggs-Thompson said.
"We need to learn how to communicate and stop assuming" criminal behavior, the Spectaguard said.
The University community confronted the issue of racial profiling in January of 2002, when then-College senior Dimitri Dube claimed he was unfairly targeted by Penn Police, at least in part due to his race.
He claimed that early on the morning of Jan. 19, police asked him to leave the 7-Eleven located at 38th and Chestnut streets and later stopped him while he was on his way home. Following the incident, University Police conducted an investigation that concluded that Dube had acted lawfully, and that officers had acted within departmental guidelines.
