A number of students who attended this month's Naked Quad Run (NQR) have called into question the administration's assertion that police officers who broke up the event earlier than usual did not initiate physical force.
In three incidents, the students said, Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) officers inappropriately used force with students participating in NQR who did not themselves get physical first -- or at all.
Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman on Dec. 14 said in an e-mail response provided to the Daily by Alexander Reid, associate director of public relations, that police only employed physical force at the Dec. 10 event when students initiated physical contact with them.
But in one instance close to the end of the race at around 10 p.m., a police officer pushed a naked, female junior on the course after telling her to stop running, according to junior Stella Dennig, who witnessed the confrontation and is a housemate of the student. All her housemate did after the officer spoke to her, Dennig said, was take one step toward the officer and explain that her clothes were behind him, outside the course.
"The police officer put his hands on her shoulders and shoved her very forcefully," she said. The violent action shook her housemate, she said, particularly since the officer was male and her housemate was naked, as runners traditionally are for NQR.
At around the same time, a male freshman recuperating from running a couple laps decided to run another lap after a police officer told him it was his last chance to do so before authorities shut down the course, the freshman said. He requested to remain anonymous due to the nature of the event.
Near Olin Hall, the freshman said, a lone TUPD officer came out into the middle of the course as many other runners continued to participate in the event without a problem. The freshman's friends continued past the officer without incident, but the officer took aim at the freshman runner, according to the freshman.
"He looked at me and kind of crouched down like he was going to grab me," said the freshman, who at first thought the officer was joking since the officer had let his friends by and because a short time before the other officer had told him that running was OK. He said he playfully juked to one side to evade the officer.
But the officer proceeded to grab the freshman, lift him up, push him against a guardrail and pull one of his arms behind his back, urging him to stop struggling and to cease running, according to the freshman. The officer eventually let him go, he said.
"He didn't tell me to stop before he grabbed me," the freshman said. "He just bent over and picked me up."
Senior Joshua Lord witnessed the alleged confrontation and corroborated much of the freshman's story.
The same officer who lifted up the freshman was later involved in an arrest of a male junior at the event, according to the freshman and Lord, who got the officer's badge number. Reid, Reitman and TUPD Capt. Mark Keith did not provide the officer's name after multiple requests by the Daily last week.
At the time of the arrest, Lord said, a group of students asked the officer not to arrest the senior and politely asked for his badge number. In response, the officer took his handcuffs out and asked the group if "anyone else wanted to get arrested," Lord said.
"I think the officers were just in over their heads trying to calm down a group of drunk naked people," he said of the night's confrontations.
Lord and junior Eva Sikes said they witnessed all or part of the arrest and that the student did not initiate any physical force against officers; Reitman and witnesses said the officers involved were in pursuit of another individual who the university alleges punched an officer in the face.
But the junior was arrested and later charged with assault and battery of a police officer, assault and battery of a correctional officer and resisting arrest, the Daily reported on Dec. 18.
"He did not lay a hand on an officer," Lord, who said he witnessed the arrest, said of the arrested student. "I am sure he did not assault a cop."
The arrested student's arraignment in Somerville District Court was originally scheduled for Dec. 13and will continue this Thursday, according to Middlesex District Attorney's Office spokespersons Jessica Pastore and Cara O'Brien.
Reitman on Wednesday declined to provide further details about the case, as did Reid on Tuesday, citing the ongoing investigation; they also would not provide further comment on other student allegations. Keith did not respond to multiple voicemails and e-mails last week requesting comment about the police's handling of NQR.
The run, which traditionally takes place on the final day of classes of the fall semester, proceeded relatively smoothly until the university decided to shut it down earlier than usual.
At around 10 p.m., when the event normally is still underway in force, police officers barricaded the Res Quad course with their bodies and signaled to students that the run was over, according to witnesses.
Reitman said last week that the university made the decision to end the run early because it had started earlier than normal -- at around 9 p.m. -- and that more participants tend to get injured as the typically hour-long event drags on.
The freshman who was allegedly lifted up and thrown against a guardrail said he believes the university had good intentions in shutting down the event early, but that officers may have gotten frustrated.
"I think that the police completely overreacted to everything that was going on," he said. "They responded like we were protesting or something. … I thought that it was just an inappropriate way of dealing with the problem."
Dennig said she was disappointed with Reitman's defensiveness and apparent disregard for students' consternation.
"I fully understand his position and his requirement to support the University, but as Dean of Student Affairs, I expect a more objective account of his story, and a less heated, defensive account towards students who are merely emailing him to express deep concern and frustration," she said in an e-mail. "He has not been addressing these statements of concern, and instead has been reading into them as attacks on the University, which seems irresponsible and unproductive."
