Dr Ersula Ore MASJHR Statement

As Alumni and current students of the M.A. Social Justice & Human Rights program at Arizona State University, we demand that unjust criminal charges against Dr. Ersula Ore be dropped by ASUPD and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. We demand a full investigation of the incident and an exploration of ASUPD’s racial discrimination practices to ensure that students, faculty, and employees are safe from selective enforcement and police violence going forward.

Dr. Ersula Ore was violently assaulted by a fellow employee, an ASU Police Officer, while returning home from teaching one of her classes on May 21st, 2014. Two harrowing videos document the incident, including the officer’s racial profiling and violent treatment of Dr. Ore: http://bit.ly/1odXEJu and http://bit.ly/1yXMBKc

It is of deep concern that in responding to this incident, ASU has violated its own Diversity Policy (http://bit.ly/1yXN66Z) by supporting one employee over another in an incident that has not been thoroughly or properly investigated. The racial and gender dynamics that are clearly germane in the incident are a glaring example of this.

ASU President Michael Crow has stated, “We have to learn how to communicate and teach between all ethnic and cultural perspectives. Not with a dominant cultural perspective and marginal alternative cultural perspectives, but across all of these. We have not figured out how to do this. We need to embrace cultural diversification in America and change the culture of the university as a critical first step.”

Yet ASU issued the following statement in response to the incident involving Dr. Ore:

“ASU authorities have reviewed the circumstances surrounding the arrest and have found no evidence of inappropriate actions by the ASUPD officers involved. Should such evidence be discovered, an additional, thorough inquiry will be conducted and appropriate actions taken.

Because the underlying criminal charges are pending, there is not much more we can say at this time. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has reviewed all available evidence, including the police report, witness statements, and audio and video recordings of the incident, and decided to press criminal charges against Dr. Ore for assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, refusing to provide identification when requested to do so by an officer, and obstructing a highway or public thoroughfare.

ASU’s statement said quite a bit for an institution that did not want to say anything. Who are the “ASU authorities” that performed the review and found no wrongdoing? The officer stated that the law says Dr. Ore has to show ID: “Let me see your ID or you will be arrested for failing to provide an ID, that’s the law.” But ARS-13-2412 clearly states that Dr. Ore only had to provide her full name. And this is just one example of alleged misconduct by the officer that needs to be further investigated.

We live in Arizona, a state in which a district court must supervise a county sheriff’s department that actively (and gleefully) racially profiles and detains people. Unfortunately, Arizona is internationally infamous for racial discrimination and profiling. We live in Arizona, where the superintendent of public education makes horrible racist and classist statements and the outcry for his resignation is met largely with silence. We live in Arizona, where we are met with sympathetic head shakes when we tell people outside of Arizona where we are choosing to work, live, study, play, teach.

When a talented professor such as Dr. Ersula Ore is willing to come face the heat with us, she should be able to hold the reasonable expectation of respect from her coworkers, as we expect for any human being that ASU employees come in contact with. Police discrimination and brutality is nothing new, but to have it occur in the microcosm that is the ASU campus sets a dangerous precedent. ASU is tasked with molding the minds of people that are expected to emerge as thought leaders and world changers. So what kinds of minds are we sending out into the world when the university itself refuses to support and defend the human rights of one of its employees?


Photos of the street in question: http://on.fb.me/1qmlBlm
Website set up in Dr. Ore’s defense: http://bit.ly/1vhUlSI

Press:
The Think Progress post: http://bit.ly/1odE0gO
Clutch Magazine: http://bit.ly/1yXv5Gb
Uptown Magazine: http://bit.ly/1lnDwQF
The Root: http://bit.ly/1nUQiZY

Statements:
Statement from English dept. Grad Students: http://bit.ly/1iLlE7P
The Arizona Ethnic Studies Network's statement http://bit.ly/1mhu9lE

Petitions:
Current Circulating Petition: http://bit.ly/Vz1bZK