Vinay Harpalani: An obvious 'pattern' of stereotyping

Last week, all faculty, staff and students at the Graduate School of Education received a disturbing e-mail from one of our administrators. The e-mail contained a series of crime reports from Penn Police and stated that "a crime pattern has developed in our patrol area."

What particularly disturbed me about this e-mail, however, was not the occurrence of crimes, but rather, the biased and unhelpful nature of information provided in the reports. For instance, according to one report, a perpetrator stated, "Bitch, give me your bag." This information serves only to conjure up fearful, stereotypical images; it does not increase public safety at all. And while the suspects varied greatly in physical description -- height, build, etc. -- the only "pattern" in these reports further stigmatized the most negatively stereotyped group in America: black males.

Penn Police may as well have just come out and said what they have been implying for years: The Penn community should fear all black males, including those who are affiliated with Penn. In my six years at Penn -- as a graduate student and a GA in DuBois College House -- I have repeatedly seen Penn Police spread this message in subtle and not so subtle ways.

During my first week at the University, our student orientation included safety training administered by a Penn Police officer, who played upon common racial fears. He warned us about the dangers of West Philadelphia, which has a large majority of black residents. He cautioned us not even to leave a quarter on the dashboard of our cars, noting that "these animals" will break in and take it.

The reference to West Philadelphia residents as "animals" is telling, and such dehumanization has been characteristic of Penn Police's treatment of black males, including students. Take the case of O'Neil Bryan -- Penn alumnus, track star and former DuBois resident. Two years ago, Bryan was falsely accused of burglary in a case that went all the way to court. Thankfully, he was acquitted, but only after being taken out of his dorm room in handcuffs by Penn Police based on the vague misidentification of one person.

Contrast this with the experience of Gregg Seaton, a fellow Education doctoral student, who was injured by Campus Copy employees in the spring of 2001. Gregg is a good friend of mine -- a person of impeccable character. It was painful for me to witness his injuries shortly after the incident took place. But Penn Police did not take any significant action until the altercation became a campus-wide issue.

Thus, it appears that if black male students are suspects, a vague description is enough to arrest them, but when they are victims, visible injury is not even enough to warrant a full investigation.

Other high-profile incidents also illustrate the disrespectful treatment of black males by Penn Police. In 1999, Kenneth Ray, a 38-year Penn employee with a stellar reputation, was arrested after officers mistook him for a thief. And just last year, the University held an open forum after Penn Police stopped College senior Dimitri Dube, now an NYU law student, in a well-publicized case of racial profiling. At the forum, many other black male students told stories of harassment by Penn Police.

Dube's case led several student groups, including the Undergraduate Assembly, to call for a civilian review board, similar to the one at the University of California at Berkeley, to monitor Penn Police conduct. The recent crime reports sent over the Graduate School of Education listserv, which will be discussed by the GSE Student Affairs Committee, also bring to light the need to disseminate information in a responsible manner. Thus far, through all of these incidents, the University has not taken any significant action to improve Penn Police's treatment of black males.

But this issue goes beyond the police department; it is at the very heart of University-community relations. And Penn's attitude toward the predominantly black, West Philadelphia community is certainly one of mistrust.

To state what should be obvious, the vast majority of West Philadelphians are perfectly law-abiding citizens. This undeniable fact is obscured by Penn Police actions and by the University's attitude overall.

Penn, as a whole, should change its entire outlook toward West Philadelphia from an attitude of fright to one of opportunity. It should welcome community residents on campus rather than fearing them. And changing Penn Police's disrespectful and sometimes dehumanizing behavior toward all black males is a small place to start.

As we have seen from the recent, dreadful cases of Amadou Diallo in New York, Timothy Thomas in Cincinnati and many others, police abuse can even lead to deaths. Let us hope that in the case of racial profiling, Penn will make real and permanent changes before such a tragedy occurs on campus.

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