"The issue of racial profiling brought to a head issues that had been simmering ever since the gym had been renovated," said Dean of Students Ben Lieber. "For a couple of years, outside people getting into the gym had been a problem and no effective system of monitoring was in place. So, a combination of ongoing problems-which, for whatever reason had not previously been addressed-and the fact that there were allegations of racial profiling finally brought this to a head."
President Tom Gerety agreed that the gym staff members had been thinking about the issue. "Independent of this issue, the gym was concerning Peter Gooding and others," he said. "This forced us to pay attention quicker and earlier."
The College issued a letter to the College community on April 5 announcing the changes. The letter cited the BMG's allegations as one of the catalysts for the changes. According to BMG Co-president Emmanuel Ashamu '04, the BMG approves of further training in racial profiling for the Campus Police. However, he expressed the group's concern that the changes in gym security may be ineffectual and that the student body may blame the BMG for changes it does not endorse.
"The [gym changes] address security problems in the gym, but in no way do they meaningfully address racial profiling. I don't want the BMG to become the scapegoat for these new policies when they are not what we suggested," said Ashamu. "It's hard because it's very intangible; how do you make a policy to effect the opinion of the campus? But the campus on a whole does need to change-not just getting rid of one way that might lead to racial profiling by restricting access to the gym-that's a band-aid."
The new system, which was implemented, effective today, will cost the College's operating budget $15,000 when it is completed over the summer. The system secures the perimeter of the athletic complex, leaving only one port of entry, which requires a College identification card for access.
A non-student monitor will be stationed at the door to ensure that the system is not bypassed. Over the summer, turnstiles will be installed to prevent multiple people entering with a single card.
"The new system does preclude the need for [subjective requests for identification] by increasing access requirements to the gym, but it's inevitable that the system will not be perfect from the outset, so we will consider refinements over time," said Director of Facilities Planning and Management Jim Brassord. "Initially, there may be students who forget their IDs, but we believe students will accept the system and understand that they have to bring their IDs."
Anthony, chief of the Provincetown police force, led his police department in becoming the first Massachusetts law enforcement agency to implement mandatory training on racial profiling. While Campus Police officers have been previously trained in preventing racial profiling, Chief of Campus Police John Carter hopes that a refresher course led by Anthony will help officers bring themselves up to date on the laws and help the department review its current policies.
"While I was unaware that there was this perception [of racial profiling occurring] on campus, I wouldn't say that I'm shocked. We're concerned and we're going to work very hard to change that perception," said Carter. "Keep in mind that generally when we respond to suspicious persons it's on the basis of someone calling us, so a lot of times the community decides what is or isn't suspicious and we absolutely have to be reactive to our community. If we set ourselves apart we won't be able to do our jobs."
Some members of the BMG remain concerned that the changes in College policy only came about following the group's decision to take their concerns to the public.
"I think this is a start to the administration working with us, but this has been a long time coming," said Travis J. Bristol '03, a member of the BMG. "The administration has known about our concerns, but it's only been since [those concerns] were put on the front page of the paper that they became a great concern to them."
Allegations of racial profiling at the College have caused many to question the College's ability to use policy and infrastructure changes to solve a "real world" problem.
"The notion of an 'ivory tower' that's completely insulated from larger cultural issues is completely misplaced and almost patronizing to higher education," said Lieber. "The fact is we participate fully-for better and for worse-in the issues that beset the larger climate, so it's not surprising that problems that exist in the so-called 'real world' also exist here."
The BMG is currently planning a series of campus-wide forums to initiate discussion of race on campus.
"There's racism in the rest of the world, so it would be impractical to say we can end all racism here, but if we can just let people know that it occurs, that's at least the first step," said Ashamu. "We want to do what we can to help increase student awareness of issues of race. Sometimes you get the sense that some people think these issues are somehow foreign to our Amherst community-that that kind of stuff doesn't happen here. We want to let people know that it does."