Reaction to Racial Profiling at Loyola University in Chicago

"The week of action, called for by Loyola's Anti Racism Movement (ARM), is in response to an incident of racial
profiling at Loyola in 2007, where four minority students were
approached by a campus security officer, accused of not being
Loyola students and of having fake Loyola IDs, and were called
various names related to their racial backgrounds such as
"gangbangers." The students filed incident reports and
repeatedly followed up on the status of their investigation,
but were never given any results. After discussing the
incident with other students of color, the students found that
their experiences—both the racist incident and the
administration's lack of response—were fairly commonplace."

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-

February 19, 2008
Contact: Erica Granados-De La Rosa
Phone: 301.828.5003
Email: egranadosdelarosa (at) luc.edu

LOYOLA STUDENTS PROTEST RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, DEMAND
UNIVERSITY ACCOUNTABILITY
Week of anti-racist action culminating in large student protest

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21st 1:45 PM— LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
LAKE SHORE CAMPUS IN ROGERS PARK. 1125 W. LOYOLA AVE. IN FRONT
OF STUDENT UNION, ACROSS FROM LOYOLA REDLINE EL STOP.

Loyola University Chicago students of color and white allies
will be protesting their university's administration THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 21ST, claiming a lack of accountability and public
transparency in cases of racial discrimination and profiling
on campus and widespread racism at Loyola. APPROXIMATELY 100
STUDENTS will be marching from the student union to deliver
demand letters to the office of campus safety, the President
of Loyola University, and the head of the Department of
Student Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. The event will
culminate a week of actions demanding that the university take
greater pro-active measures in combating racism and
investigate racist discrimination and harassment in more
public and open ways.

The week of action, called for by Loyola's Anti Racism
Movement (ARM), is in response to an incident of racial
profiling at Loyola in 2007, where four minority students were
approached by a campus security officer, accused of not being
Loyola students and of having fake Loyola IDs, and were called
various names related to their racial backgrounds such as
"gangbangers." The students filed incident reports and
repeatedly followed up on the status of their investigation,
but were never given any results. After discussing the
incident with other students of color, the students found that
their experiences—both the racist incident and the
administration's lack of response—were fairly commonplace.
"Our experience with racial profiling was not an isolated
event," said Erica Granados-De La Rosa, a freshman who was
involved in the initial event. "Students of color at Loyola
experience these incidents day in and day out. What happened
to me is a very common thing for students of color on this
campus, and is indicative of the racism of American society as
a whole."

The Thursday march comes on the heels of a student forum on
Monday February 18, attended by over 100 students, where
faculty, staff, and students of color shared experiences of
racism at Loyola. Over twenty students spoke about their
experiences of racial or religious profiling. During the
event, a white male walked past the front of the crowd, pulled
out what appeared to be a pistol and pointed it at the crowd,
and walked out of the front doors of the student union. Omar
Kamran, a junior and a minority male, called the CPD to report
the incident. While waiting for the CPD, a campus safety
officer arrived on the scene, grabbed Kamran's arm, and
immediately accused him of being the perpetrator, despite the
fact that Kamran gave a description of the suspect to the CPD
and had included the fact that the suspect was a white male
and had already left campus. "It was ironic that they would
accuse me, a minority male, of pointing the fake gun," Kamran
said, "since at that very moment someone was speaking on
racial profiling. I was racially profiled thirty feet from
someone talking about it. It really points to the necessity of
demanding that our university take racial profiling and racism
seriously, because we as minorities face these racist
incidents every day."

For information, contact Erica Granados-De La Rosa.
egranadosdelarosa (at) luc.edu
301.828.5003