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An alleged racial profiling incident at the Glendon campus has seen York Security Services issuing an apology and promising change.
Tahar Amrane, fourth-year international studies student at Glendon, filed a complaint late last year about an incident in which he says he and several other students were subject to racist treatment.
Amrane says Glendon security targeted black students, accusing them of breaking a computer in a lab at Glendon.
“The security even threatened them if they do not cooperate, they would call the police on them,” says Amrane. “My black schoolmates and friends demanded to know as to why they were targeted. The security’s response was that the person who broke the computer ‘matched their description’.”
Asian and Caucasian students were not questioned about the incident, according to Amrane. Amrane and his classmates filed a written complaint to Glendon Principal Donald Ipperciel and later started a petition calling for greater awareness of and mobilization against racism. In his letter to Glendon’s principal, Amrane demands an apology to victims of racism and calls for York to inform students on its website when an incident involving racism has occurred.
“Moreover, we find that York University practices racial discrimination because it investigates, denounces and disseminates anti-Semitic acts; however, not acts of racism against visible minorities, namely blacks and Arabs,” reads the letter.
Amrane hopes to create awareness, vigilance and equity among Glendon’s student community with his demands.
The letter demands York employees who practice discrimination be sanctioned. Among those, he includes the security officers with whom he filed his complaint.
“In short, we do not believe in promises, but in concrete results from [York],” concludes the letter.
News about the incident made its way to the Ontario Public Interest Research Group, or OPIRG, who heard from Amrane.
“Unfortunately, there are many incidents of racism on campus that we hear about, many of which often go unnoticed and with no actions made to remedy the situation,” says Imran Khan, information co-ordinator at OPIRG.
Khan says OPIRG suggested writing an open letter to raise awareness of the situation that is currently circulating among student groups who are expected to sign on and endorse it.
“We hope to hear the concrete actions that are going to be taken to remedy this situation and what is being done to prevent future cases like this, because this is happening on campus far too often with impunity,” he adds.
When asked about how the York administration is dealing with such allegations and complaints of racial profiling, Barbara Joy of York media says that any concerns about the effectiveness of York’s security services in meeting the needs of community members are taken very seriously.
Joy adds that the Department of Community Safety has introduced several initiatives to promote effective service delivery within the context of a safe and inclusive space.
These initiatives include mandatory yearly re-certification training for all security officials and trauma sensitive training for all community safety staff along with regular revisions of standard operating procedures.
Speaking about creating inclusive spaces, Samina Sami, executive director of the Department of Community Safety, says, “Inclusion means being intentional about preventing and addressing bias and all forms of discrimination, including racism, sexism, homophobia and ableism.
“In the event that we learn of concerns from students or other members of the York community, we are committed to immediately investigating the circumstances, and taking corrective actions,” adds Sami.
According to documents obtained by Excalibur, York Security Services determined that “frontline personnel did not follow professional expectations of communication and de-escalation.”
The letter states that remedial and corrective actions being undertaken cannot be disclosed due to privacy and labour relations regulations.
