Feinberg School of Medicine administrators want to develop a more “surefire” way to identify students on the Chicago Campus, they said this week as Feinberg students continued to question whether University Police officers detained a black Feinberg student in December because of his race.
Police said last week the student was detained on “reasonable suspicion” of theft and criminal trespass and partially because UP employees using NU’s then-directory Ph could not confirm he was a student at the time of the incident.
“I’ve encouraged the dialogue and trying to facilitate discussions between students and the police department,” said John Franklin, associate dean for minority and cultural affairs at Feinberg.
Two investigations — an internal UP investigation and one by Michael Powell, director of the Equal Employment Office at NU — concluded earlier this year and found that race was not a factor in the incident. But some students still question the reasons behind the student’s detainment.
Feinberg administrators met with students and police officials within days of the incident, Franklin said.
The Feinberg student senate met last week with UP officials, including Chief Bruce Lewis, to request that an apology letter be written to the student. Lewis said last week he had apologized to the student in person and was working on a written apology.
The Powell investigation is not credible because Powell is affiliated with NU, said Corpia Smith, a first-year medical student and president of the Feinberg chapter of the Student National Medical Association, a group representing minority medical students.
“This is not an unbiased person,” Smith said of Powell. “He was employed by the university, protecting the university.”
Powell said the student came to him to request an investigation.
“I tried to ascertain the motivation for the action … my determination was that the student’s race and ethnicity was not part of the decision-making process,” Powell said.
The student was walking to his off-campus apartment around 5 a.m. on Dec. 15 when he was stopped by a UP officer, who asked to see his student identification. The student wasn’t carrying a WildCARD and the name on his state ID did not appear in Ph, so officers were unable to confirm he was a student. The student’s first name is spelled as two words on his ID and was spelled as one in the directory. Officers brought him to UP’s Chicago station. He was released when his lab partner identified him as a Feinberg student, police said.
The student first came to Franklin on Dec. 16 to ask how he could respond to the incident, said Nicole Woods, director of the Feinberg Office of Minority Affairs and Cultural Diversity. Since then, the student has met with administrators more than 18 times, Woods said.
Students involved with senate and SNMA were concerned after hearing about the detainment.
The student involved told a class of his fellow first-year students what happened to him, first-year Feinberg student Katie Benzmiller said. She said most students seemed frustrated that police initially did not talk with students about the incident — UP’s internal review was not completed until late February — but were glad last week to hear that Lewis was writing an apology to the student.
Feinberg Dean Lewis Landsberg sent an e-mail April 20 to medical school students and faculty that explained the findings of the investigations and called for continued discussion to create a safe environment at the school.
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