Recently, three Mississippi State University students were charged by MSU Police with disorderly conduct and telephone harassment and were arrested in connection to a threat that led to the evacuation of Allen Hall. Several articles in The Commercial Dispatch reported this situation, and I am outraged at the great injustice committed against these MSU students. Several MSU students have urged The Reflector to investigate this issue, and I agree that MSU deserves to know what is going on. After contacting one of the students involved in the case to receive permission to investigate this matter, I became angry. Clearly our campus police department has violated the rights of MSU students and we, as students, are basically at the police department’s disposal.
Qieta Worlds, a junior majoring in math education, maintains that she was wronged in this case. Worlds holds that on the morning she made the fateful phone call, she received a warning that something bad would happen at 2 p.m. in Allen Hall. Worlds called MSU officials to warn them of what she heard.
Worlds did the right thing. What if there had been a bomb in Allen Hall? Hundreds of lives could have been lost. How would Worlds have lived with herself had she not called someone and there had been an actual threat?
Worlds holds she was found guilty by MSU’s student judicial board. My concerns in the case deal with the way the students were handled. It is obvious that these students are being used as an example by our university.
Based on a statement issued by Meridith Geuder, associate director of University Relations, Worlds is charged with making the phone call that led to the evacuation, while two other students are accused of aiding Worlds in her attempt to disrupt a business by telling students not to go into the building. It should be obvious to anyone that these students thought there was a need for concern. Why should they be punished for doing what they thought was right?
I understand how important it is for our university to take an assertive stance against false allegations and threats, especially in light of recent terrorist attacks, but what I do not understand is how our university can punish a student who was trying to do the right thing.
Worlds indicated that MSU police detective Virginia Rich verbally assaulted her and forced her into making false, incriminating statements. Worlds claims that Rich used excessive profanity and bullied her into a corner. Regardless of circumstances, there is no reason for an officer of the law to verbally assault a student.
When questioned about Rich’s conduct, MSU Police Chief Thomas Johnson, in The Commercial Dispatch, stated that if the students feel their rights have been violated, they should file a complaint. What will be done on behalf of these students in the meantime? If a student was abused, bullied or disrespected by our police, what good will a complaint do? I don’t want a complaint. I want action taken by our university against that officer.
I contacted Rich and she said the allegations made against her were absolutely false. Rich said she approaches each situation as it dictates, but that she did not resort to profanity.
Being that World’s was tried by the judicial board, which consists of a diverse make-up of MSU students, Dean Mike White reported that justice had been served. Deliberation in the case lasted over an hour and Worlds was given every opportunity to present her side of the story.
If Worlds is correct, the MSU Police Department should not be allowed to run amok, abusing the rights of students. Just because we are students at this great university does not mean our rights should not be considered and upheld.
Johnson, in the Oct. 29 issue of The Commercial Dispatch, taking an official stance, said the students could have gone to a resident assistant or to Residence Life. That’s garbage. The students thought Allen Hall was going to explode. What would Sherman, the Super RA, have done? Magically diffused the bomb with his X-ray vision?
After contacting MSU Police Chief Thomas Johnson, Johnson reported that he was not aware of any complaints having been filed against any officers in this particular case.
If Worlds is correct, the message these actions are sending to students is that we should all mind our own business and make no concern over the actions of others. The message students should get from this is that we need to look out for each other and watch our backs if we have intimidating police officers protecting us.