Barnard Suspends Campus Police For Profiling Black Student

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — The Barnard College campus police officers involved in racially profiling a black student and pinning him down in the campus library have been suspended and an independent investigation into the confrontation has been launched, Barnard and Columbia University officials announced.

Video of the student being pinned to a table and surrounded by campus police Thursday night in Barnard's Millstein Center has been viewed more than 2 million times on social media and forced school officials to hold listening sessions following a wave of outrage and protest.

Barnard College President Sian Leah Beilock said in a statement Monday: "The past few days have been very distressing for our entire community. The confrontation with a black male Columbia University student and several Barnard public safety officers on April 11, 2019, does not reflect the values of the College; what transpired was unacceptable and antithetical to our mission."

Beilock said that a full independent investigation was launched into the confrontation between the student and campus police that will also offer a comprehensive evaluation of the school's Office of Public Safety. The school will also reevaluate how its officers are trained in regard to racial bias.

"The confrontation puts into stark relief what some members of the Barnard College community, particularly people of color, have been saying about their relationship with the Office of Public Safety and the lack of trust they have in it to keep them safe,"Beilock said Monday in a statement.

Alexander McNab, the Columbia University senior who was pinned by campus officers, told the Columbia Spectator that he was followed into the Millstein Center on Thursday night after passing through the Barnard gates without showing his school ID. McNab told the campus newspaper that he knows students are required to show ID after 11 p.m., but that he was frustrated by an inconsistent enforcement of the rule that disproportionately affected students of color.

The senior told the campus newspaper that Thursday night was the third time he had been profiled by campus police this school year, prompting him to decline officers' requests to see his ID.

In video of the confrontation posted to social media, McNab can be seen telling officers "“I didn’t violate anybody — get your hands off of me" while they hold him down.

Barnard College and Columbia University are planning to hold open forums on race, racial bias, and racial profiling on campus. The first forum is planned for Tuesday night, Barnard President Sian Leah Beilock said in a statement.