Thread by @NanaOseiOpare

Head football coach + team physically threatened and harassed an engineering class & professor (my father-in-law) at the Colorado School of Mines last week. The coach interrupted class, shouted, blew a whistle, ordered athletes to remove students from the room @coschoolofmines 1/

The classroom was reserved for this engineering class this whole semester; the coach arbitrarily decided he wanted to use it at that time and used his athletes as muscle to physically threaten the class to leave **during the scheduled class time** 2/-

The coach's shouts, whistles, and orders to his athletes to remove students were so chaotic that one student fled. One athlete approached my father-in-law and shut the class projector. My FIL refused to leave & verbally warned them to stop many times before they left. 3/

Multiple students reported this harassment to HR immediately afterwards. Half of the ~100 students expressed concerns about their safety in the current classroom. Ten days later, **the university has not yet changed the classroom,** nor have other concerns been addressed. 4/

The coach treated student athletes like a personal security force, ordering them to physically intimidate and remove other students from the room, who have every right to learn in that space at that time. 5/

It is concerning that student athletes complied with coach's inappropriate orders, risking their own academic standing + bodily safety: What does this say about the culture of @minesathletics @minesfootball team? Are these young men safe themselves, physically & mentally? 6/

This incident raises larger questions about athletics power, mental health, and impunity in the university today. Who gets to get away with behaving badly and terrorizing others? Who is always expected to "forgive and forget" being a punching bag for others' dangerous rage? 7/-

Lastly, why tweet this? My father-in-law, an Asian American, has worried about incidents at this university before, which were ineffectively addressed or ignored. This one threatened the physical safety of his class. Unacceptable. 
How will you address this @coschoolofmines?/8

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