Shaw University president says students racially profiled, searched during school trip in SC

Shaw University president Paulette Dillard expressed outrage Monday after she said students were wrongfully stopped and searched during a trip to Atlanta, Georgia.

While the president believes the students were racially profiled with this search using drug-sniffing dogs, a legal expert said this case revolves around the legality of how officers and deputies responded.

Dillard said 18 students became the subject of a stop-and-search operation in South Carolina while riding a charter bus on their trip.

Raleigh-Apex NAACP President Gerald Givens condemned the actions of those who may have been involved.

"Just a horrible experience all the way around," said Givens. "The best way to prevent this from happening again is to change the standard of law enforcement officers and the culture that they have within their organization."

The group was on its way to a conference in Georgia on October 5.

Dillard said authorities in Spartanburg County, South Carolina stopped the driver for a minor traffic violation.

Dillard released a statement Monday reading in part:

"Traveling by contract bus, South Carolina Law Enforcement stopped the team in Spartanburg County under the pretext of a minor traffic violation. A couple of officers boarded the bus and asked the driver where he was headed. Multiple sheriff deputies and drug-sniffing dogs searched the suitcases of the students and staff located in the luggage racks beneath the bus.

In a word, I am “outraged.” This behavior of targeting Black students is unacceptable and will not be ignored nor tolerated. Had the students been White, I doubt this detention and search would have occurred.

It’s 2022.

However, this scene is reminiscent of the 1950s and 1960s—armed police, interrogating innocent Black students, conducting searches without probable cause, and blood-thirsty dogs. It’s hard to imagine. Yet, it happened to the Shaw University community, and it is happening throughout this nation in alarming fashion. It must be stopped.

To be clear, nothing illegal was discovered in this search by South Carolina Law Enforcement officers. The officers said they stopped the bus because it was swerving and issued the driver a warning ticket for “improper lane use.” Throughout this unnerving and potentially dangerous situation, our students and staff conducted themselves calmly and with tremendous restraint.

I will modernize the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with my own, “The ultimate measure of a man and woman is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy.”

Our students stood tall amid an unnerving and humiliating experience and because of their dignified and professional response, the situation did not escalate into something far more sinister."

Irving Joyner, professor of law at NC Central, said officers involved exceeded the authority when using drug-sniffing dogs.

"You don't even have to get into racial discrimination, although there may be a factual basis to support it," said Joyner. "Clearly there is a constitutional violation."

The driver of the Shaw student bus was cited for improper lane use.

WRAL News reached out to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office and said 67 improper lane use citations were issued during a law enforcement crackdown.

Students directly impacted by this are expected to come forward and speak sometime this week.