Professor called police on students arriving late to class, Georgia university confirms
UPDATE: This story was updated to include comments from the professor, which were sent to McClatchy News on June 24. McClatchy News requested comment when the story was written on April 1, but received no response.
A professor at Georgia State University called the police after two students arrived minutes late to class, university officials said.
“Two Black students had the police called on them today at Georgia State’s Perimeter Campus in Newton County for being two minutes late to class,” a student said in a viral TikTok video posted on March 31.
When the professor asked the students to leave, one responded, “We paid to be here.” The professor then left the room and returned with two “armed police officers,” according to the TikTok.
“Campus police arrived after being called by the faculty member and de-escalated the situation between the students and faculty member,” a spokesperson from Georgia State University told McClatchy News in an April 1 statement. “Clearly, no crime had been committed so there were no arrests.”’
The professor, Carissa Gray, said in a statement sent to McClatchy News on June 24 that, “I called public safety in response to the students’ disruptive behavior. My actions had nothing to do with the students’ race.”
Officers told the students that if they did not leave they would be charged with trespassing, according to the video.
The student in the TikTok video said there’s belief that the professor’s actions were in retaliation to an incident that happened earlier in the semester, but did not elaborate.
“Both of the students, a woman and a man, started crying because they were so terrified of what could happen to them,” the student said in her video.
Gray said in her June 24 statement that the student who made the TikTok was not enrolled in her class and didn’t witness the incident.
The professor is no longer teaching in-person classes and the provost and police chief have reached out to meet with the affected students, according to a university spokesperson.
“Time and time again, we’ve seen the police being weaponized against Black people,” the student in the video said. “Calling the police on two students for being two minutes late to class is extremely unreasonable and dangerous.”
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 12:36 PM with the headline "Professor called police on students arriving late to class, Georgia university confirms."
