A Black college professor called the police on two Black students for arriving to class late at Perimeter College at Georgia State University, prompting outrage from the students' peers on TikTok.
TikTok creator and college student Bria Blake posted about the incident on Wednesday evening. In the video, which has over 116,000 likes, she says two of her classmates, known as Taylor and Kamryn, were two minutes late to an English class.
The professor, whom Blake names as Carissa Gray, asked them to leave because they were late. Gray did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment. Taylor and Kamryn were not immediately available for comment. Blake also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Georgia State University said it is "looking into the situation."
"We are looking into this matter and how it was handled by the faculty member. Campus police arrived after being called by the faculty member and immediately de-escalated the situation between the students and faculty member," the school said in a statement. "Clearly, no crime had been committed so there were no arrests."
According to Blake's retelling, Taylor said that they as students "paid to be here" and refused to leave. Gray then left the room and returned with two armed police officers, Blake said.
George State University Campus Police and the Major of Police Operations at the Perimeter Campus did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
"Stuff like this cannot keep happening to Black youth in America," Blake said. "Stop weaponizing the police against Black people."
"Stop weaponizing the police against Black people."
College student and tiktok creator bria blake
Georgia State University does have policies against "disruptive behavior" in the classroom, according to its student code of conduct. The school policy states that an instructor may summon campus police to remove a student whose behavior "poses an immediate threat to the safety" of themself, the instructor or other students. Instructors are also authorized to “summon the campus police” if a student “fails to comply with the instructor’s warning” to stop being disruptive and then refuses to follow a request to leave the classroom.
A Georgia State University representative said that policy refers to extreme behavior that may endanger others in the classroom. Calling the campus police over tardiness or other disrespectful behavior, the representative said, is not typical of university faculty.
According to Blake, both Taylor and Kamryn were "terrified of what could happen to them" when Gray called the police, given the history of disproportionate police violence against Black people.
"Calling the police on two students for being two minutes late to class is extremely unreasonable and dangerous," Blake said.
Update: This article has been updated to include additional information on the Georgia State University student code of conduct.
