Uproar over WSU athletes’ arrests prompts outreach to American Samoa
Key players in Pullman and at Washington State University will be making the trek to American Samoa in August in what is being termed a “goodwill trip” following a series of arrests last summer involving four Samoan WSU football players.
According to Mary Jo Gonzales, WSU’s vice president of student affairs, the trip is all about students.
“This is part of us understanding the students we serve,” she said. “It is about building relationships.”
Gonzales, who took her position at WSU in February, said the idea for the trip – the first of many to varying areas – first came up when she spoke to WSU President Kirk Schulz during her interview process. Both Gonzales and Schulz will be traveling, as will Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins.
Students were feeling disconnected from the university, she said.
“It was clear to me we needed to connect with our students,” she said.
The trip will help the university understand what students, specifically those from American Samoa, need.
WSU faced significant criticism from parents, alumni and state politicians alike over the handling of the four student arrests, which stemmed from alleged assaults in three separate incidents between June and August of last year.
Critics, including state Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, suggested during an emotionally fraught WSU Board of Regents meeting Nov. 4 that racial profiling was the cause of student expulsions and suspensions.
During the meeting’s public comment period, Baumgartner, a parade of WSU parents and alumni protested the initial expulsion and, later, suspension, of Robert Barber, a 22-year-old Cougar nose tackle from American Samoa who was arrested after being involved in a fight that sent another student to the hospital with a concussion. Barber was eventually found not guilty of charges associated with the incident.
Baumgartner told the regents Barber had been treated like a “savage animal” by the university.
An independent review of Washington State University’s Student Conduct Board found no evidence of racial bias, according to a report completed Feb. 16 by Lyons O’Dowd, a Coeur d’Alene-based law firm, but, Gonzales said, the fact that racism was perceived is enough reason for concern.
For Jenkins, the trip is about setting things right.
As WSU was facing criticism for the way the students facing assault charges were dealt with, the PPD was getting its share of it for making the arrests in the first place.
“One thing I want to do is dispel any misconceptions people of the community might have about the city of Pullman or Pullman Police Department,” Jenkins said. “There were some occurrences last year that led to concerns – that are understandable concerns.”