Staff Editorial: DaSilva, Penn deserve answers

Last October, the arrest of Rui DaSilva rocked the Penn campus. DaSilva, an associate faculty master at Spruce College House and the husband of History professor Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, was carrying donated bikes into the Quadrangle when he was stopped by a University of Pennsylvania Police Department officer and pepper-sprayed. Besides causing DaSilva a fair amount of distress, the event raised allegations of racial profiling.

At the time, a subcommittee of the Public Safety Advisory Board formed to investigate the issue of racial profiling writ large. Now that the committee is ready to present its findings to the University administration, we call on the administration to make these findings public. Anything less would represent a grave injustice to a community that has, for the most part, been waiting very patiently for answers.

No one, except for the officer who made the stop, will ever know for sure whether race did enter the picture on that October afternoon. However, a significant percentage of the Penn community feels that race did play a role. That DaSilva is a respected member of the community who had, by all accounts, done nothing wrong, compounds the bitterness with which many view this incident.

Regardless of where one stands on the issue of racial profiling, the fact remains that the practice, according to the Web site for the Division of Public Safety, is expressly forbidden to UPPD officers. There are strict guidelines for Penn Police regarding what represents a valid reason to make a pedestrian or vehicle stop, and race should not enter the picture.

The subcommittee's report probably will not solve the larger problem of bias in police work. But the Penn community needs to see whatever the report holds. Keeping it under wraps will only further suspicions of wrongdoing, even if the committee finds none. And if the report does state that bias is an issue within UPPD, it is imperative for the Penn community to know this.

The time has come for answers. The University administration must release this report and acknowledge whatever conclusions the subcommittee has reached so the Penn community can begin the process of healing and decide, ultimately, where to go from here.

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