Professor Protests Rude Treatment by Security Guards : Race: Black Chapman University educator calls their dorm room intrusion a ‘storm trooper-style break-in.’

A black professor at Chapman University has protested he was mistreated last month by campus security officers, university officials confirmed Wednesday.

The professor, Francisco Newman, who teaches film and television, has reported to campus officials that he was rudely treated by two security officers who last month burst into the dorm room where he was staying overnight, woke him and questioned him. Newman termed the intrusion into his room a “storm trooper-style break-in policy” and said the security force is insensitive to racial issues.

Newman, who lives in Perris in Riverside County, was staying on campus in the vacant room, a prerogative granted him by the university because of the length of his commute. But through a clerical mix-up, security officers were not notified Newman would be staying in the room that night, said Ruth Wardwell, spokeswoman for the university.

James Doti, president of Chapman, said he has received some conflicting information about the episode but that enough is known for him to have “serious concerns.”

“It is certainly a regrettable incident,” he said. “My senior staff will be discussing this with me.”

Newman could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but his anger over the incident is related in a commentary that appeared this week in Chapman’s student newspaper, The Panther.

“Something is dreadfully wrong when those hired to help us wind up harassing us,” Newman wrote.

In his article, Newman also talked about several racially and ethnically volatile incidents on the campus. He reported that several students have told him “of repeated harassment by campus security” and also noted that last spring Chapman had an incident in which some black and white students got into a fight over a white student’s racial remark.

Newman said his confrontation with campus security officers occurred Nov. 16 about 1:30 a.m. “Suddenly, campus security officers come blasting into my room with nightsticks and flashlights and asked, ‘Who are you, guy? What are you doing here?’ ”

The officers left after he produced identification, Newman said, and he complained about the incident to campus Safety Director Milt Galbraith, suggesting that Galbraith hold sensitivity training for his staff.

Newman said Galbraith responded that “sensitivity training is passe.”

In an interview Wednesday, Galbraith confirmed that he made the statement, but he said it was misunderstood. “I was referring to the type of ‘60s sensitivity training as being passe,” Galbraith said. “I’m definitely in favor of sessions for multicultural awareness.”

Galbraith said he had apologized to Newman for the dorm incident and “told him of things we are doing so that something like this will not happen again.” While he generally corroborated Newman’s story, Galbraith said the officers were not carrying nightsticks.

Doti on Wednesday said he is disturbed that the officers did not make a better effort to learn the identity of the person in the dorm room before bursting in. “I’m upset our officers didn’t check more thoroughly,” Doti said.

Correspondent Martin Miller also contributed to this story.