In the wake of the October arrest and pepper-spraying of Spruce College House Associate Faculty Master Rui DaSilva, a faculty committee has been meeting weekly to discuss issues of public safety and race at Penn.
The committee, headed by School of Social Work Professor Dennis Culhane, was organized late last month in response to concern over racial profiling on behalf of University Police.
DaSilva, who lives in Spruce with his wife, Director of Latino Studies and Spruce Faculty Master Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, was arrested and pepper-sprayed on Oct. 11 while attempting to deliver donated bicycles to the Quadrangle.
After Faculty Senate Chairman Lance Donaldson-Evans requested an independent review of the incident, University President Judith Rodin responded by requesting that a committee be formed with Culhane as its head.
Culhane organized a group of faculty members, which include William Baxt, chairman of emergency medicine at the Medical School; Jeanne Arnold, executive director for the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs; Sociology Professor Elijah Anderson and Medical School professors Sean Kennedy and David Mandell.
According to Mandell, the committee has been meeting "pretty much weekly."
However, he was unable to comment on any developments within the committee itself.
"We've decided to keep all of the information regarding the committee confidential until the end of the committee," Mandell said.
According to Farnsworth-Alvear, the committee is planning on speaking with DaSilva at a forthcoming meeting.
"I know that they contacted Rui and he's planning to meet with them," she said. She did not know exactly when that meeting would occur, however.
Shortly after the incident occurred, the University, especially within the Quadrangle community, was buzzing with activity in an attempt to make students feel secure despite the accusations of racial profiling.
A group of resident advisers and graduate associates held a meeting in the Quad a few days after the incident to address the issue.
According to College junior and Spruce RA Imanni Wilkes, the meeting, attended mostly by RAs and GAs, was "an open meeting for everyone in the Quad in case they wanted to know what had happened." In addition, the meeting gave students a chance to meet with Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush.
However, Wilkes said, "Overall, there was a sense of frustration" because "maybe not all of their questions were answered," she said. Students were upset that Rush "just kind of refused to say that there was any kind of profiling that might have taken place," she added.
Over a month has passed since the meeting, and little has taken place since then. According to GA Andrew Otto, "It's life as usual" in the Quad.
