On Nov. 4, a Change.org petition requesting the removal of a Rhode Island School of Design public safety officer for alleged “harassment, inappropriate behavior and sexual misconduct” was posted online. As of Monday night, it had garnered over 700 signatures and been shared more than 500 times.
The petition alleges that a public safety officer, who is not identified in the current version of the posting, “has directly pursued and harassed students both physically and online by sending repeated and undesired non-consensual communication through social media to the affected students, seeking them out in their workspaces, and identifying them by their vehicles and clothes.”
The petition outlines three incidents involving two students and the public safety officer. It also requests that RISD’s administration immediately conduct an impartial investigation into the claims, implement “protective measures for affected students” and potentially remove the officer from the school. The petition also states that its creation came in light of “the dismissal and inaction of (RISD) Equity and Compliance when alerted of these events.”
On Nov. 5, the petition’s creator, identified as Fiona Y., added an update saying the school began an investigation and the officer has since been barred from campus. RISD Senior Director of Public Relations Jaime Marland did not confirm whether the officer had been removed. The update also included a request that anyone who has further information about the officer email RISD Equity and Compliance.
The petition’s creator declined to comment when contacted by The Herald.
According to the update, the officer’s name is not included in the petition due to “legal reasons.”
“RISD is aware of the allegations and has taken appropriate steps to address concerns regarding the safety of the campus community,” Marland wrote in an email to The Herald. “While federal confidentiality laws prevent us from commenting on the specifics of this matter, RISD does not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind and responds to all reports of misconduct, including discrimination and harassment, in accordance with our policies.”
Oliver Maxwell, a sophomore at RISD, told The Herald that he wasn’t aware of the petition but added that he’d “heard personal stories about this public safety officer from a friend who had a pretty traumatic experience with him and now is actually hesitant to spend time in her studio because of it.”
“I’m all for removing the public safety officer,” Maxwell added.
Izabella Piatkowski is a senior staff writer covering the Rhode Island School of Design.
