By Mandy Oaklander
We all like to think that we’ve evolved beyond the point where things like race matter. But matter they do.
Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management is in the midst of a heated controversy over a case of alleged racial profiling. The incident involved two administrators, both white, and a black student, Northwestern junior Joshua Williams. The case has ignited demonstrations, an apology from the police, and a promise from the Northwestern president to create a new advisory board to deal with these incidents.
Williams’ story, published in the online student magazine North by Northwestern, begins last month, when he was waiting at the Kellogg School of Management for his class in a nearby building to begin. According to Williams, he was approached by a Kellogg administrator. She asked if she could help him with anything; he declined. Minutes after she walked away, another administrator asked Williams about his reasons for being in the building. Williams said he was a student, but the man walked away unconvinced. “Had he asked for my identification card, he would have proved himself wrong. Instead he decided that there is no way this black boy dressed in baggy clothing could attend a school like this,” Williams wrote in an e-mail to Northwestern students.
Offended, Williams left the building. But less than five minutes later, he was stopped by a Northwestern police officer, who told Williams he had been contacted by the Kellogg administrator Williams spoke with last. After handing over his school identification, Williams waited while the officer called it in to see if it was stolen or fake.