Are students being held responsible for the feelings of their adult professors?
A student at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU), a historically Black college (HBCU) in North Carolina, was reportedly arrested on Tuesday in front of classmates for not apologizing to her white professor during a disagreement over a final exam assignment.
According to a social media post, the Black student, who identifies herself as Leilla Marie on social media, took to Instagram to expose the moment campus police officers were called into her college classroom to make the arrest. She has since deleted the post.
Videos circulated on social media, where it appeared that Marie was handcuffed and escorted out of the class of a white professor who Marie and other WSSU students identified as Dr. Cynthia Villagomez.
Marie took to her Instagram Live to explain the situation in depth to her followers and supporters.
“They’re definitely getting a lawsuit,” Marie said during the live recording.
According to Marie, Villagomez informed her six hours prior to the group presentation that the assignment needed revision because it was completed incorrectly, saying that failure to make revisions would be detrimental to her grade.
After the discussion escalated to the two yelling at each other, Villagomez told Marie, “You need to get out.”
Villagomez consulted with another professor and then called the police when Marie refused to leave.
“Either apologize or you need to leave,” Marie said Villagomez told her.
A Black WSSU officer, who Marie said is “well-known and cool around campus,” tried his best not to arrest her, but was instructed to do so by a white officer who arrived at the scene.
Marie was told she was being arrested for RDO, resisting arrest, “because I refused to apologize to my teacher,” she added. She shared that she was released from custody with bruises and a 2nd degree misdemeanor.
“I will no longer be representing WSSU,” Marie said. “I can say that with a whole lot of confidence that I don’t feel like WSSU deserves my representation.”
“Y’all had me arrested for not apologizing to a white professor,” she added, sharing she no longer felt safe at WSSU.
“I came here for a really different experience from the one I got” and “really 100% thought I would have gotten arrested at a PWI before getting arrested at my HBCU.”
WSSU released a statement on Twitter noting that the incident is currently under investigation.