Students file complaints with IUPD

At least four people have filed formal complaints with the IU Police Department over an early morning incident last Sunday when police drew their guns on a group of students outside of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, said IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger. \nTwo of the complaints were filed by females who had expressed frustration with IUPD in person early last week, Minger said. Officers provided the women with formal complaint forms, which were filled out and returned sometime after Friday. Minger did not know who the other two were filled out complaints but said he was told one person had written a letter to the editor of the Indiana Daily Student expressing frustration with the incident. \nFrom what Minger said he was told, the complaints reiterated many of the criticisms expressed by students throughout the week.\nCourtney Williams, president of the Black Student Union, said while there is merit to students voicing their opinions, an official complaint goes a long way toward being taken seriously.\n"Paper trails are more important than just making yourself heard vocally, and we've been making that known by our black students," Williams said. \nThe BSU has been active in the past week, meeting with staff members of the Indiana Daily Student, and participating in a letter-writing campaign to the student paper, according to Eric Love, director of diversity education and BSU adviser. Members of the BSU have said they feel the police reaction was racially motivated.\n"After Monday's (IDS) article, people were continuing to talk about the incident," Williams said. "There's no way we could let that sort of outward grief in the community pass by and come to a head later down the line. We needed to make a stand."\nTo his knowledge, Love said the BSU had not met with the IUPD. At a regular meeting of the BSU Monday night, some members provided official complaint forms from the IUPD station, advising students to fill them out if they had a complaint or information about the incident.\nWilliams said while clearer communication between IUPD and the black community is definitely needed, she doubts a dialogue between the two groups would achieve anything.\n"Other groups like the National Panhellenic Council would have more to say directly to the IUPD," Williams said. "We aren't the people who throw parties."\nLove said students were encouraged to submit official complaints "if someone had witnessed something about the (Sunday) incident that they thought was inappropriate, or if they thought they were victims of racial profiling, or injustice."\nWilliams believes black students might hesitate to submit formal criticisms to the IUPD for several reasons. \n"The black community hasn't always had the best relationship with the police," Williams said. "If there's no active correspondence between ourselves and IUPD, nothing will change."\nLove said though some of the pain and anxiety might have subsided, it was still seen as a setback to everything BSU and other diversity groups worked hard to establish. \n"I think maybe for some it has died down," Love said. "But for the student leaders and administration, and anyone who really cares about diversity and equity on the campus, it's an ongoing concern"