Cal State Long Beach President Jane Close Conoley is scheduled to attend a student-led forum Wednesday evening meant to address safety issues stemming from an incident on campus last month, during which a student allegedly flashed a knife during a sociology class.
The forum is set to take place Wednesday, March 23 from 5:00PM to 6:30PM at the college’s University Student Union Ballrooms.
The event will be hosted and facilitated by the Black Student Union, La Raza, Sociology Student Association, Chicano and Latino Studies Students Association and Muslim Student Association. Joining Close Conoley will be Vice President of Student Affairs Carmen Taylor.
University officials expect a dialogue with the students about safety on campus and how to address those concerns, CSULB spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp told the Post. He said no new information will be provided during the event, as the investigation is ongoing.
The reported incident happened on Thursday, February 25 during a sociology class, according to officials. The professor allegedly perceived a threat when the male student was seen holding a small knife measuring 2.2 inches and asked the student to leave, which he did. Sociology students reported on social media that the male student allegedly flashed the knife in front of a black female student during a discussion.
During a university-led forum on March 11, university police said the male student was a relative of a personnel from the university police department and that the student was a community service officer. Officials later stated that the student was also of mixed black and white race.
Some students have expressed outrage at the lack of information on the incident by the university, and what they consider to be a racial problem on campus.
Student organizers demand Close Conoley to expel the “white-passing male student” who displayed the knife, and establish a student oversight committee for risk assessment, by April 4.
They also demand the termination of CSULB Dean of Students Jeffrey Klaus by March 25 for allegedly being “negligent in the remarks he made about the situation to students” during a meeting March 2. Klaus allegedly told students the male student was “cleaning his nails” with the knife and when asked why students weren’t sent a timely warning bulletin said, “there was a theft in the bookstore last week, do you need to know about that too?”
The incident is currently being investigated by the Long Beach chapter of the NAACP, the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) and the university.