Jim Crow on Campus, Episode 3: “Dashawn and Andre”

Welcome to SUNY Canton, a technical college of 3200 students in upstate New York. It’s located in Canton, NY, the county seat of St. Lawrence County, a county that’s just 2.7% Black and 2.3% Latinx. But at SUNY Canton, two-thirds of the students who live on-campus are Black and Latinx. It’s like a pocket of NYC in the backwoods of rural New York.

So what happens when those students of color are policed by all-white cops? In Jim Crow on Campus, a new podcast series from Weave News, reporter Erin Corbine aims to answer that question by covering the students, the police, the administration, and the surrounding community. It’s available now on iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud, and here at Weave News, via the widget below.

Investigative reporter Erin Corbine uncovers the story of Dashawn and Andre in episode 3 of Jim Crow on Campus. In the episode, rising sophomore Dashawn and SUNY Canton alum/former employee Andre, recount an experience with University Police that started with a haircut, but ended with two young men of color in handcuffs.

In a series of events, Dashawn is given 24 hours to vacate campus and is left homeless in an unknown small town. Subsequently, the SUNY Canton Administration denies him the hearing to which he is legally entitled. In the podcast, Dashawn reflects on his treatment by the SUNY Canton University Police:

“I took on a lot of emotional stress from this. I felt criminalized. I feel a little demoralized as a man of color.”

If you are a current or former SUNY Canton student or employee and would like to contact reporter Erin Corbine about your experiences, you can reach her at erincorbine[at]gmail.com.

If you have experienced racial or ethnic discrimination and would like to file a complaint, SUNY Canton allows for both formal and informal complaints to be filed with their Affirmative Action Co-Officers, William Jones (jonesw@canton.edu or 315-386-7063) or Lashawanda Ingram, (ingraml@canton.edu or 315-386-7128). In addition, students also have the right to file complaints with both the New York State Civil Rights Bureau and the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. NYSCRB complaint forms can be found here (and in Spanish here), and Department of Education complaints may be filed here.

Media inquiries, complaints, and other feedback may be directed to producer Christian Exoo at christianmexoo[at]gmail.com.

Jim Crow on Campus logo by Alex Soto