A student named Kevin Bruce posted a video to Twitter Wednesday night with the message: "Rude advisors at Kennesaw. [Shaking my head]." In the video, an advisor Bruce identified as Abby Dawson approaches him and tells him he is harassing her and her assistant and leaves to call campus security.
Kennesaw State University student Kevin Bruce was willing to wait to see his college adviser this week, even if that meant sitting for an uncomfortably long time in the waiting room before meeting with the professor. But an employee seemed threatened by his patience and threatened to call campus police, claiming that Bruce's waiting there amounted to harassment. Bruce, who is African-American, recorded a video of the white university employee’s threats and tweeted it to his followers Wednesday night.
By Thursday morning, Bruce’s video had gone viral – it had been retweeted more than 5,500 times by Thursday afternoon -- and prompted school officials to respond to allegations of racism at the college. “We are aware of the video and situation,” read a tweet from the official Twitter account for Kennesaw State University, a four-year public school in Georgia. “Thanks for sharing your concern with us. A formal complaint process has begun.”
The controversy spawned the trending hashtag #ItsBiggerThanKSU, where Twitter users reacted and shared their own experiences of racism on majority-white college campuses across the U.S. "I would sue the school lowkey, claiming negligence & emotional abuse!" one Twitter user wrote. "If my child were even thinking about attending in the fall, I'd tell them that they needed to think ANOTHER thought! #ItsBiggerThanKSU," another user wrote.
Bruce later shared screen shots of emails dated in Aug. 2014 in which he was corresponding with Dawson about course requirements in the exercise science department. Bruce also posted screen shots of emails dated recently explaining the trouble he has experienced with Dawson to an unknown recipient.
In those emails Bruce says Dawson displayed a pattern of cancelling scheduled meetings, while also indicating he prefers in-person dialogue to email correspondence. Bruce also said he spoke to the department head, JC Bradbury, about all the cancelled meetings and what he thought was insufficient counseling.
By Thursday morning, Bruce’s video had gone viral – it had been retweeted more than 5,500 times by Thursday afternoon -- and prompted school officials to respond to allegations of racism at the college.
