CSULB Professor Accuses Campus Police of Prejudice

Asks University to change its policies.

On May 25, Dr. Steven Osuna, an associate professor of sociology at CSULB, was in his office preparing for an online workshop, when he had to leave his office for a moment. Osuna left his office and building without his keys, identification and cell phone. And when he tried entering the building to his office, the doors were locked shut.

According to an online statement written by the California Faculty Association, “Dr. Osuna walked to the blue light emergency phone in parking lot E10 to call university police (UPD). He was hesitant to call them since he had already had an intimidating experience with them in the past, but he had no other choice.”

Osuna was eventually met with a UPD officer, and a “ride-along” individual. Osuna introduced himself as a faculty member of CSULB and explained he was trying to get back into his office after being accidentally locked out of the building.

The statement by the CFA continues by saying that the officer asked for Osuna to contact the dean before they could open the door.

“Dr. Osuna replied that he didn’t have his dean’s phone number, but the officer could easily verify who he was by looking at his profile online,” the statement said.

Body camera footage of the incident was also released online by the Statewide University Police Association (SUPA), which shows the UPD officer refusing to help Osuna get back into his office, telling Osuna that he needs to call the dean before he could be let inside.

The officer eventually took a moment to contact their supervisor, who supported the officer’s decision to deny entry to the CSULB professor. Osuna can be seen in the video angry, believing that he was being kept out of the building because of the color of his skin.

“If I were a white professor, you’d have no problem with this,” Osuna said to the officer, and the individual who was allegedly smirking off-camera. “And you want to smirk about it, but you know it’s true. You would have no problem opening the door for a white person.”

The Beachcomber got the opportunity to speak to Osuna about the incident, who claimed that he wasn’t initially shocked by the officer’s decision.

“It’s not surprising because this is what police do,” Osuna said. “I say that given the historical relationship of people of color and the police.”

Osuna added that he teaches classes about critical criminology, and the history of policing and incarceration. So he knows a lot about the checkered history of policing and people of color.

“I was shocked in the sense that: I’m a tenured professor, and I know any other tenured professors wouldn’t have to deal with what I dealt with,” Osuna said, referring to his white colleagues at CSULB. “I have had multiple emails and conversations with people, specifically white faculty, that are like: ‘that’s never happened,’ ‘They let me in,’ or ‘Even if I don’t have an ID they let me in’.”

After the incident with Osuna and the officer, Matt Kroner, President of SUPA, issued a complaint to the CSU Board of Trustees. In the letter, Kroner denies that the officer’s decision had anything to do with race, and the accusations made by Steven Osuna should be investigated.

“SUPA wants all our members to have the ability to serve our community to the furthest they can to support the university mission, and at the same time not risk disciplinary action by violating department policy,” Kroner said in his letter. “However, disagreement with a campus policy does not give anyone license to bear false witness or make false accusations against other fellow employees.”

Kroner added in his letter: “Maliciously injecting race into a policy dispute regarding unlocking building doors is conduct unbecoming of a profession trusted to educate our students.”

Osuna told the Beachcomber that he felt SUPA asking for an investigation of his claims as something of a scare tactic, by the association.

“I saw this as an attempt to intimidate and silence me for speaking up,” Osuna said.

Currently, CSULB’s Policy states that the department will unlock campus doors for all campus faculty and staff members who have a positive identification.

However, in a faculty letter written to CSULB President Jane Conoley, many white faculty members have argued that they have never been required to show proof of identification when asking to help get into their offices or buildings.

One of the professors that voiced his support for Steven Osuna was Dr. Ron Loewe, an anthropology professor at CSULB, who stated that, “I’ve taught at CSULB for sixteen years, and if leaving one’s keys or wallet in the office were a sport, I’d be a top contender. I’ve done this at least a half dozen times.”

Loewe continued: “In all the years I’ve taught here, I’ve never been told about a campus policy prohibiting an officer from unlocking a faculty office or requiring us to show an ID. Nor have I been asked to call the dean.”

Loewe concluded: “The responding officers have always unlocked my door, and unlike Professor Osuna, who is referred to as ‘staff’ in the video that the police union released, I’m generally addressed as ‘professor’ or ‘sir’. There may be a policy about unlocking doors that I’m unaware of, but it is not enforced on an equitable basis.”

Steven Osuna and his colleagues have also asked President Conoley and the CSULB to revise the school’s policy on unlocking doors, as well as create a Campus Police Accountability Council.

“I think it’s important to have that revision,” Osuna said. “If someone has access to a place and has permission to enter, but they lost their keys and ID, there should be other mechanisms to figure out who this person is.”

Osuna added: “I’m not saying that this should be a free-for-all so that anyone could come in. But there should be ways and mechanisms that don’t require the campus police to do this.”

Over a hundred members of CSULB’s Faculty have signed the letter and shown their support for Steven Osuna. Osuna told the Beachcomber that the endless support for change has truly helped him.

“It feels great, you know. I feel the solidarity and the support my colleagues have given me,” Osuna said. “When I released my statement with my Union, I’ve gotten so many emails back telling me: ‘we support you,’ ‘This shouldn’t have happened,” or the white faculty being like, ‘I’m supporting you because they never treated me this way, so they shouldn’t be doing this.”

Osuna added: “So I really I’m just very happy and feel held because this could’ve ended differently. Imagine that I spoke up and no one supported me.”

Students and fellow professors, both from CSULB and other CSU institutions, have also voiced their feelings on twitter about the discrimination they believe Osuna was met with.

“The point is that, had Dr. Osuna been white, the officer would have never called his supervisor in the first place,” Dr. Lesa Johnson, an assistant professor of sociology at Chico State, said in a twitter post. “He may have just escorted the professor to his office to check his ID.”

Dr. Osuna also hopes that the university does change its policies, in the end. Not just for the teachers and faculty, but for the students as well.

“You know, fundamentally, I want us to start to rethink and re-envision what we mean by policies.” Osuna said. “And that students, staff and faculty should have democratic control over the decisions of what public safety will look like.”

Osuna added: “Does public safety always mean the police? For a lot of us it doesn’t. And so when you start rethinking that, that should include all of us in that process. Faculty, students and community members alike.”