YPSILANTI, MI – Shayler Barnes Jr. understands the frustration black students at Eastern Michigan University are going through with another racially-charged incident occurring on campus this week.
They’ve shared their feelings with him since learning a black doll was found hanging from a shower rod inside a dorm room on Monday, just like they did when a series of racist graffiti incidents shook the campus more than two years ago, Barnes said.
“I can’t help but feel the emotions students are feeling, which is being hurt, disappointed and tired,” said Barnes, an EMU senior and current president of its Black Student Union. “I think a lot of them are exhausted and fed up with the climate that continues to be cultivated at EMU.”
A resident adviser in Best Hall found the doll inside a bathroom shared by suite mates on Feb. 11. The incident is being investigated by EMU Police and the Office of Wellness and Community Standards.
The female student who left the doll in the shower in the alleged incident is a resident of Best Hall, EMU Spokesman Geoff Larcom confirmed.
A statement from the university originally indicated the student was a guest of one of the suite mates. She placed the doll in the shower, telling investigators it was a “prank” that did not have malicious or racist intentions, according to a statement from the university.
While the alleged student characterized the incident as a “prank,” Larcom noted the university regards it as “a serious, racist gesture that runs counter to the values of Eastern Michigan University.”
“The department of public safety is investigating the incident, doing interviews and establishing the full context for the purpose of submitting its investigation to the county prosecutor, which will then decide to issue actual charges if a crime has occurred,” Larcom said.
Beyond pursuing discipline for the alleged perpetrator, Barnes said he hopes the university can continue to work with black students to create an environment of support when issues like these arise.
"I want them to not just listen and be stagnant pillars as incidents like these continue to swarm around us, and not be looking at this incident as something that has passed,” Barnes said. “I want them to acknowledge a culture that needs to be cultivated for the future.”
EMU senior Jalen Griffin, a member of the black fraternity Iota Phi Theta, said he and other black students felt disrespected by the suspected student’s characterization of the incident being a prank.
Griffin hopes there will be opportunities for dialogue and meetings with both the student and university officials to address racial issues that persist on campus and attempt to remedy the situation.
“I think it’s more effective if you sit down with a person face-to-face and digest the problem,” Griffin said.
Larcom pointed to the EMU police investigation into previous racist graffiti incidents, which included more than 1,080 hours worked before identifying Eddie Curlin, a former EMU student who is black, as the perpetrator. Curlin was ordered to pay more than $2,000 to EMU and Capital One on three counts of malicious destruction of a building, and to serve two to five years in prison on four unrelated counts of identity theft.
"The university is paying attention to the safety concerns of the whole university,” Larcom said. “The university takes this very seriously and quickly started investigating the incident (after it occurred).”