Guest MINDSETTERS ™ Benko, Kral, Mello: A Profile on Racial Profiling at PC

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Guest MINDSETTERS ™ Savannah Benko, Alex Kral, and Nick Mello

 

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Nearly all college campuses throughout the country struggle with issues of one form or another.  Some have to resolve scandals within their athletic departments while others try to tame fraternities and sororities. Providence College is no different. However, whereas most other schools prioritize the problems most prevalent on campus, at Providence College this is not the case. The concern is not one visible to the outside eye, but delve deeper into this small, liberal arts college, and one will find that it is not all positive in “Friartown.” Beyond its meticulously designed appearance, the students and faculty of Providence College are burdened by the deplorable issue of racial profiling. In an environment that prides itself on welcoming “all qualified men and women of every background,” one would expect that race relations would be of high importance to the administration. Instead, those in charge direct their attention towards the issue of underage alcohol abuse, while racial profiling goes unaddressed.

Providence College (PC) is a Catholic university founded by the Dominican Order of Preachers in Providence, Rhode Island in 1917.  The College prides itself on academic and athletic excellence as well as a welcoming community.  According to the College’s report in compliance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act (2008), PC’s welcoming community is comprised of 3,934 full-time students; data on the diversity of the student body is available through the report in the form of percentages of self-identified members of a major racial or ethnic group: 0.2% self-identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, 1.2% as Asian, 4.1% as Black or African American, 7.6% as Hispanic/Latino, 0.2% as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 2.2% as Nonresident Alien, 6.1% as Race and Ethnicity Unknown, 1.8% as Two or More Races, and 76.7% as White.

The “welcoming community” facade created by the Providence College administration is not difficult to uncover and breakdown. There are multiple noteworthy cases that suggest that the outward appearance of PC does not accurately reflect what is really going on.  In these instances, those responsible for upholding the Dominican values are the very ones who disregard them: they ineffectively prioritize campus issues focusing the majority of their efforts on fixing underage alcohol abuse while making very few apparent efforts to address the issue of racial profiling. For example, nine extra officers were hired to work the weekend of Providence College’s annual golf party. At the bare minimum, with the average cost of police officers at roughly $9.50/hour, this is roughly $5,000 spent on a single weekend; this is $5,000 more than has been spent on the issue of racial profiling. In addition, just this fall semester, there have been 32 instances of “transports,” in which students have been taken to the hospital for consuming excessive alcohol. The cost of an individual transport is roughly $1,000 in total but can reach a cost of up to $3,000. This is approximately $32,000 in fines, costs, and expenses. While administration may argue that this shows that drinking is a prevalent problem, 32 transports over 6 weeks equates to roughly 5 students each weekend. This means that 5 students made the poor choice of consuming too much alcohol, as opposed to the thousands of other students who were responsible in their drinking. Additionally, while there has been 591, or 10% of the total undergrad students written up for solely alcohol in the past three years, there has been zero write-ups for hate crimes. Yet, a professor at the school, Dr. Jordan-Zachery, has been profiled nine times in eight years. Some of these instances have been by the Providence College security officers -- the very people whose jobs are to protect and serve the Providence College community. In one particular instance, she was stopped and continually questioned despite her cooperation. The outcome? The case was dismissed, the officer claimed it was “friendly” conversation, and denied any racial profiling. The college took his word, and the case was dropped. This case is only one of several that have been pushed under the rug, and have made both Dr. Jordan-Zachery and other students feel the need to hide from security to avoid being racially profiled. Dr. Jordan-Zachery also described an instance of a professor who refused to acknowledge and pronounce a student of color’s name. The school once again remained silent, and continues to do so despite the continuous assault on students of color. Finally, after conducting an informal survey of PC students in the campus student center, it was determined that 66% felt racial profiling was a major issue on campus. Members of the administration decline to take the survey.

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PC attempts to act in accordance with their Dominican Catholic values and, for the most part, they do so successfully.  One such example is the actions taken to minimize the abuse of alcohol by minors. These actions are important as underage alcohol abuse is a serious issue that deserves attention; however, the sheer amount of energy spent on underage alcohol abuse detracts from other severe issues that deserve attention such as racial profiling. In order to act in conformity with its Catholic values, PC must address the issue of racial profiling that causes grave, negative effects on the students and faculty of PC.  It must also be noted that PC does have a “Strategic Plan for Diversity” and one of “The Friar Four Foundational Pillars” is “Cultural Agility”.  While the “Strategic Plan for Diversity” is an excellent method by which the College can diversify the student body and faculty, it does not strongly enough address the issue of racial profiling which is prevalent on campus.  The “Cultural Agility” foundational pillar promotes cultural awareness and respect for those of all cultural backgrounds.  These ideals are exemplary and ideal; however, the “Cultural Agility” pillar directs these principles towards the students.  The faculty and administration of PC also need to adhere to these principles and create an environment in which members of the PC community -- regardless of cultural background -- feel safe and welcome.

Between the remarks from Dr. Jordan- Zachery and the analysis of the school's fight against underage drinking, the issue of racial profiling is clearly one that has yet to be addressed and is screaming for administrative action. Moving forward, the school has to be proactive: PC needs to stop under prioritizing the issue of racial profiling and start trying to ameliorate it for the sake of the school’s community. The answer to this issue, however, is not clear. Trial and error is unfortunately the method that the school must be willing to adopt in order to find the solution that will provide the Providence College community the safe environment that it not only wants, but needs. Whether it's integrating more faculty and administration of color, or creating a Safe Space for students who have experienced racial profiling, something must be done. It could be as simple as providing consequences for hate crimes in the student handbook as clearly as the ones for drinking, or following through racial profiling. Overall, to succeed, it must begin with the administration. For the sake of the students, we need them to step up and lead. We need them to prove to the students, faculty, and alumni that the Catholic values on which the school prides itself are still the ones that are being valued today.

This op-ed was also signed by students in Cedric de Leon’s Sociology 101 class at Providence College: Nick Adamsons, Kanyinsola Adedeji, Jake Cook, Jamie Gregorek, Tommy Heavren, Josh Keller, Christina Klaum, Jennifer Lynch, Karolyn Moni, Elena Morganelli, and Natalia Reiss

 

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