https://www.cbsnews.com/video/cops-c...smith-college/
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- An employee who called police on a black Smith College student who was eating lunch in a common room on the western Massachusetts campus Tuesday has been placed on leave, school officials say. In a transcript of the call released by school officials Friday, the unidentified employee tells campus police dispatchers that the student seemed "out of place."
In a statement Friday, the college announced they have retained an outside law firm to "conduct a thorough, external investigation." The employee, who hasn't been identified, has been placed on leave pending the result, the school said.
The student, rising sophomore Oumou Kanoute, told CBS Boston she works at a summer program teaching chemistry to high school students for Smith's STEM program and was reading in the dining hall of the Tyler House dorm Tuesday.
"Next thing you know, I see the cop walk in with a Smith employee whom I've never seen before and the man said, 'We were wondering why you're here?"' Kanoute said.Oumou Kanoute speaks with CBS Boston on August 2, 2018 after a Smith College employee called police on her. CBS BOSTONKanoute tells the officer she works on campus and was eating lunch and relaxing.
"Oh you're just taking a break? You're with one of the summer programs?" the officer responds.
Campus police found "nothing suspicious" about Kanoute's presence, Amy Hunter, the school's interim director of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, said in a statement. A police report wasn't filed because the officer determined the report to be unfounded, according to the school.
In the transcript of the police call, the employee who made the report tells a dispatcher, "I was just walking through here in the front foyer of [redacted] and we have a person sitting there laying down in the living room area over here. I didn't approach her or anything but he seems to be out of place … umm … I don't see anybody in the building at this point and I don't know what he's doing in there, just laying on the couch."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/smith-e...-out-of-place/