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Cal Poly responds to report of faculty member being pulled over, handcuffed

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Union alleges incident was race-motivated

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Cal Poly officials say they are investigating after the university's faculty union made allegations of a racial profiling incident involving a faculty member and a university police officer.

In a letter sent out by the California Faculty Association, which represents Cal Poly faculty members, the union alleged that a member of the faculty was pulled over by a university police officer, handcuffed and had their vehicle searched. According to the union, the faculty member was not cited and the officer did not apologize for the search. The letter says the incident took place in the Fall quarter.

The union says the faculty member that was pulled over was a person of color and they believe the incident may have been racially motivated.

University officials say Thursday's letter was the first the university had heard of any complaints regarding the alleged stop, and say an additional search of incidents from the Fall quarter found no matches to the described police stop.

Cal Poly said they will continue to investigate and are trying to better determine the exact day of the purported incident.

"We take any and all incidents of racial injustice and inequity extremely seriously. We also encourage all incidents to be reported so that we can take action to correct them — they will not be tolerated on this campus," a spokesman for the university said in a statement released to our newsroom.

The school says it is planning to hire a third-party investigator to look into the accusations. The investigation will likely involve locating bodycam and dashcam footage that university police use in all traffic stops.

The faculty's union has asked any faculty members who have experienced any issues involving discrimination in the past to come forward and make a report to the union chapter.

Cal Poly University President Jeffrey D. Armstrong released a full statement to our newsroom, which can be read in its entirety here.

Article Topic Follows: Education

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Travis Schlepp

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