A professor at Georgia State University (GSU) has been derided by students after she called campus police on two Black students who were two minutes late to class.
The incident unfolded last Wednesday when two students arrived two minutes after a lesson began at the GSU campus in Newton County, Georgia, prompting a member of staff to call police.
The two students were named as Taylor and Kamryn in a TikTok video by fellow student Bria Blake last week. Both were told to leave despite being only two minutes late.
“Taylor responded and said ‘we paid to be here’,” Ms Blake alleged. “The professor Carissa Gray then responded ‘ok’ and left the room,” [and] when she returned she returned with two armed police officers”.
As NBC News reported on Friday, much of the criticism issued by Ms Blake and others centred on the alleged weaponisation of GSU campus police against two Black students following recent cases involving police brutality.
Ms Blake said the action was an apparent “retaliation” for an earlier encounter between the professor and the two students this semester, and that when the group complained to the university’s life department they were told this was not the first time a situation like this had occurred.
“Time and time again we’ve seen the police be weaponised against Black people,” said the student in her TikTok, which has been viewed thousands of times. She continued: “Calling the police on two students for being two minutes late to class is extremely unreasonable and dangerous”.
“Both of the students, a woman and a man, started crying because they were so terrified of what could happen to them,” Ms Blake said. “Please share this video, I’m trying to spread this story so people can know what’s going on. Stuff like this cannot keep happening to Black youth in America”.
GSU told news outlets on Friday it was “looking into the situation” after Ms Blake’s TikTok caught the attention of students and social media users, many whom condemned the professor, who was also reportedly Black.
“We are looking into this matter and how it was handled by the faculty member,” GSU said in a statement. “Campus police arrived after being called by the faculty member and immediately de-escalated the situation between the students and faculty member. Clearly, no crime had been committed so there were no arrests.”
The Independent has approached GSU for comment.
