University President Judith Rodin requested yesterday that a committee investigate the issues of public safety and race surrounding the Oct. 11 arrest of a black associate faculty master.
A subcommittee of the Public Safety Advisory Board -- which is designed to oversee issues of public safety on campus -- will be formed under the leadership of Board Chairman Dennis Culhane to begin an independent investigation of the University Police.
Culhane emphasized that "the primary charge of the committee is to review the practices as well as the policies and procedures of the Police Department with respect to racial profiling."
Rodin's request follows an appeal by the Faculty Senate to form an independent review of the Oct. 11 arrest of Spruce College House Associate Faculty Master Rui DaSilva.
DaSilva was pepper-sprayed and arrested by a Penn Police officer while attempting to deliver donated bikes to the Quadrangle. Since the incident, allegations of racial profiling have resonated throughout the University community.
Culhane, a professor in the School of Social Work, is currently working to assemble a team of students, faculty and staff to review police policy with regards to racial profiling.
While he has contacted eight potential members, Culhane said that the only members who had confirmed their willingness to participate in the investigation were William Baxt, the chairman of emergency medicine at the Medical School, and Jeanne Arnold, the executive director for the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs.
The group will meet for the first time on Friday, and will continue to meet "probably at least once every other week," Culhane said.
"I am hoping that within three to four months we can do all of our analysis and come up with a report," he said.
In a letter to Faculty Senate Chairman Lance Donaldson-Evans, Rodin wrote, "I believe it is important that we continue to address community concerns about public safety and race, openly and forthrightly, to ensure that all members of our community feel safe."
Last Friday, Donaldson-Evans requested an independent investigation in response to the incident.
"We want a committee to review the facts and come up with what is in fact the correct version of what exactly happened," Donaldson-Evans said, adding that the advisory board is an appropriate group to handle the investigation.
Though the group does not have the authority to investigate this specific event alone, it will "investigate the recent incident as well to see if it could inform that review," Culhane said.
"This particular incident is really a catalyzing event more than anything," he said.
Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, director of Latino Studies and DaSilva's wife, was unaware of Rodin's request to Culhane.
"I don't know how that decision was made, and I don't at this point have a way of evaluating the implications of that decision," she said.
While pleased that an investigation is taking place, Farnsworth-Alvear commented on her concerns as the investigation moves forward.
"What Rui and I are concerned not get lost is a willingness to have community dialogue as part of the goal," she said.
College senior and UMOJA representative Chevon Walker said she was also pleased that the University was conducting an investigation, but was concerned that "having everyone Penn-affiliated may not help with the whole objective sense" of the investigation.
However, she noted that it is "better than having a simple police investigation."
UMOJA is an umbrella group for black student organizations on campus.
Indeed, Culhane and the Public Safety Advisory Board have worked with similar incidents in the past, recently responding to a January 2002 complaint against the police by then-College senior Dimitri Dube.
Dube claimed that race was a factor when he was confronted by police on Jan. 19 while at a 7-Eleven on 38th and Chestnut streets, and once again while on his way home. In response, the board implemented a review process "to have an annual review of police complaints" in order to monitor the police, according to Culhane.
However, the DaSilva case more clearly brings forth the issue of racial profiling.
"This is different in the sense that the issue of racial profiling... has become much more salient in the discussions that have transpired around this incident," Culhane said.
Culhane also noted that "it's imperative to do everything we can to ensure that every member of the University community as well as people who visit here feel safe, and they should further feel confident that they will not be singled out by the police or any other member of the community."
Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush and Chief of Police Tom Rambo did not return phone calls for comment yesterday.
