Concerns arose that "racial spotlighting" occurred on Madison Lane this weekend when Charlottesville Police, intending to maintain public safety, intervened during two parties where black students congregated for Spring Fling festivities.
Those concerns reached Student Council last night when Tehama Lopez, a University student who participated in the Spring Fling activities designed to introduce prospective minority students to University life, gave a first-hand account to members.
Lopez also recorded her experience in an e-mail that has been sent to President John T. Casteen III, members of the Board of Visitors and students, expressing her deep concerns with the way Charlottesville Police handled the party Saturday night.
"Racial profiling continues to be a challenge in all communities not just the University," Dean of Students Penny Rue said. "It's not always clear that spotlighting is what's going on."
Primarily black University students, alumni and prospective students gathered for a party Saturday night outside 130 Madison Lane which the Minority Ideas Exchange organization sponsored. The MIE signed a contract with St. Elmo's Hall to use the location until 2 a.m.
Charlottesville Police started patrolling the area outside St. Elmo's Hall around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said.
When he was alerted to the initial activity, he said his first priority was "to preserve public safety" given the increased activity caused by the Dave Matthews Band Concert which ended later that night.
Lt. Gary Pleasants, the officer on duty in that area, sent one sergeant and two officers to the scene. Pleasants later spoke with Andre Llewellyn, an MIE member and the party's organizer. Llewellyn said he assured Pleasants no problems would arise.
At 1 a.m., Llewellyn closed off the doors to party-goers because the fraternity house had reached its capacity and announced to the crowd gathering outside that no one else would be allowed inside.
At this point, police numbers had increased to 10 or 11 officers, one K-9 unit, four sergeants and a paddy wagon, Pleasants said.
Longo said paddy wagons were pulled in because they "are frequently used for crowd control and were used for the Dave Matthews Band concert."
According to Llewellyn, one of the officers approached and said Llewellyn would need to clear the area because of crowd overflow in 10 minutes or the police would have to shut down the party.
The police force began to clear the area, poking people with flashlights and shining them in their faces, Llewellyn said.
"It was really unfair that of all the parties on Saturday night, they spotted us out," second-year Rashida Johnson said.
Llewellyn said he did not understand why the police needed to clear the party because no criminal activity had taken place. He added that other parties were taking place on Madison Lane, but the police force concentrated in front of St. Elmo.
But, Pleasants said a crowd had poured into the street, causing an obstruction of traffic. Some students shouted profanities and others threw coins at the police cars, he added.
"It doesn't matter who you are, we have to follow the law," Pleasants said.
After clearing the party, the officers proceeded down Madison Lane to shut down two other unrelated parties at neighboring fraternity houses, Pleasants said.
The shutdown on Saturday followed right after a similar incident on Friday evening when Charlottesville Police patrolled the area in front of the Fiji House on 128 Madison Lane. A group of University football players held a party in conjunction with Spring Fling activities.
That night, a disturbance occurred when two Charlottesville residents had a brawl with baseball bats resulting in blows to the heads, Longo said.
While some black students understood the degree of measures taken Friday night, many thought the action used Saturday night to clear the party at St. Elmo was inexcusable, Johnson said.
"The police acted too aggressively and the force used was excessive and unreasonable," Llwellyn said.
At the Council meeting, Lopez said she approached one of the officers to ask why the police were clearing the party, only to have her arm strapped behind her back as if the officer planned to arrest her.
Longo said he will meet May 8 with M. Rick Turner, dean of African-American affairs, students and faculty to discuss the issue of "racial spotlighting" that black students face at the University.
"We have to let [students] know that discrimination is not part of this police department and won't be tolerated," Longo said.
Turner said he is optimistic the new police chief will make a concerted effort to address "racial spotlighting"
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