At the Wednesday night Black Student Union forum, students told stories of adverse treatment from police officers, food court employees and other students.

Several student affairs staff members were present at the event and took notes on what was said.

“We will follow up and look into everything,” said Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs. “The staff will follow up on a solution and see what we can do to be proactive and prevent these things in the future.”

Adam Due, university police Chief, said the forum was a positive thing because people are talking about it.

“If you don’t take action, it continues,” he said. “Eastern is a mild-mannered campus and has zero hate crimes,” Due said.

However, Starr Campbell, Eastern NAACP president, said she believes racism is a problem on campus.

Police are required to document citations that they hear about even if they are not reported because of the Jeanne Clery Act, enacted in 1990. For example if a woman’s friend tells the police about her sexual assault, they document as much as they can, he said.

During the forum, Ashley Montgomery, a sophomore, told of a run-in she had with a food court employee, which she said resulted in disrespect from University Police Officer Randall Taggart.

After the forum, Due said that the food court employee approached officer Taggart and asked him to assist her with her customer service.

Due is not sure of the details with Montgomery, but Taggart’s lieutenant is investigating the incident. He was unsure if a report was filed at the time, but said Taggart is currently filing one.

Due said the complaints against university police officers and Charleston police officers had no connection to race.

These complaints were no different than complaints he hears from students who are not minorities, he said.

Due wished he could have responded at the forum, he said.

Mark Hudson, director of Housing and Dining said he was impressed by the BSU and the NAACP being able to provide so many people the opportunity to hear so many different views.

At the forum, one woman said students should document any racial cases.

Hudson agreed.

“We need as much detail as possible,” he said.

Montgomery was not the only student who had complaints about staff members in the food court. Hudson said that he had not heard of any complaints until the last few days leading up to this forum. The housing staff worked for a few days before the event to find the right person to talk to and find out more about the situations.

He said that late night situations have happened there with people being disrespectful after going out to the bars, but nothing racially charged had been reported to Housing and Dining.

Housing and Dining will continue to look into the situations as much as possible, Hudson said.

UPD currently has two black officers and three female officers, Due said. The police department tries to actively recruit more minorities by advertising positions in a minority publication and encouraging those who do ride-alongs or internships to join the force.

But Due thinks they are not interested in Charleston.

Due said that most of his officers have been here for a while and he is unaware of them having any biases toward any group other than criminals.

Due and Hudson agreed that each story has two sides at it is important to keep an open mind when listening to both sides.

Nadler agreed with Due and Hudson that the forum was a positive way to bring personal issues into the public view.

“I was really pleased to see everyone come together and have a good, open and honest conversation,” Nadler said. “It is very important we get these ideas out there and everyone has an opportunity to participate.”