Claremont campus shocked by allegation professor staged vandalism

By: GILLIAN FLACCUS - Associated Press | Thursday, March 18, 2004 10:06 PM PST ∞

CLAREMONT -- Students and professors at the Claremont Colleges reacted with shock and anger Thursday to police allegations that a visiting psychology professor spray-painted her own car with racist and sexist epithets and then reported it as a hate crime.

Kerri Dunn told police her car was vandalized March 9 as she spoke at a forum on racism. The incident galvanized students, who staged sit-ins and anti-hate rallies at the prestigious group of liberal arts colleges. Classes were canceled for a day and the administration offered a $10,000 reward.

But police now say two witnesses saw Dunn drive into a Claremont McKenna College parking lot with her car already spray-painted and then proceed to pop the vehicle's tires.

The two witnesses, a male and female who are friends with a Claremont student, were sitting in their own car but began backing out of a space after becoming alarmed by Dunn's alleged actions, said police Sgt. Paul Davenport.

Dunn then allegedly came up to their car and asked if the two saw anyone damage her vehicle.

"I was thinking to myself, 'Yeah, we just saw you pop your tires,"' one of the witnesses later told police, Davenport said.

One of them thought the actions might be part of an experiment because Dunn identified herself as a professor of psychology, he said.

The car also had broken windows, though the witnesses did not see her do that, police said. The two came forward following the campus uproar over the incident.

Dunn also gave conflicting statements in two interviews with police and the FBI, said Lt. Stan Van Horn.

"She basically insulted this whole school and embarrassed us all. I don't know what to think," said Glen Kim, 21, an economics major at Claremont McKenna College.

Kim, who attended the sit-ins, said he felt betrayed by the possibility that Dunn staged the vandalism.

"When something like this happens, it really hurts the whole atmosphere of the college community," he said.

Dunn, 39, has not been charged with a crime. But police will forward their investigation to the Los Angeles County district attorney by late Friday, said Van Horn. Dunn could face a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report.

Dunn's attorney, Gary Lincenberg, issued a statement claiming it was inappropriate for police to accuse her. He said the allegations "irreparably damaged her reputation and emotional health."

Dunn, a white Catholic woman who has spoken publicly about how she was considering converting to Judaism, teaches introductory psychology and social psychology as a visiting professor at Claremont McKenna College. Her contract expires June 30.

At a rally March 10, Dunn told 2,500 students the vandalism was "a well-planned out act of terrorism."

Pamela Gann, president of Claremont McKenna College, said Dunn had received excellent teaching evaluations and was popular with students. She would not comment on Dunn's future at the school.

"This is stunning news to everyone and we're all left in situation of ambiguity," Gann said. "If that is true, then we have a situation where someone in our midst misled everyone in a very fundamental and basic way and it's an affront to our community."

The destruction of the car came just weeks after two racially charged incidents.

In February, a racial slur against blacks was written on a calendar picturing the black agricultural scientist George Washington Carver. A month earlier, a group of four students set fire to an oversized cross used in an art project.

Dunn told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that she blamed administrators for regularly downplaying speech and hate crimes. She said the current investigation was overshadowing the larger issue of racism on campus.

Carl Marrone, a 20-year-old psychology major in Dunn's social psychology class, said the day before the vandalism Dunn told students she was upset there hadn't been more reaction to the slur on Carver's picture.

"She came to class and she was pretty upset that nobody was reacting to the calendar incident and (she said) that she was fantasizing about students holding protests or rallies," he said. "I thought that word, fantasizing, was weird."

Faculty members who attended a private meeting about the developments said they had mixed feelings about Dunn. Some were supportive, while others felt betrayed.

"I don't think a lot of people got to know her, but the ones who did held her in high regard," said Ron Teepels, an economics professor. "We want to get to the bottom of this."

Students were on spring break Thursday and the campus was quiet. Someone had painted the word "hate" under the word "stop" on a stop sign, and several signs that read "pro diversity, anti-hate" were placed in dormitory windows.

But some students said their classmates had overreacted last week. They said they were offended by students who gave television interviews in which they called the colleges racist.

"Labeling this school as racist over one thing is just as hurtful as the act itself," said Brett Erickson, 19, a sophomore.

"It was like being in Birmingham in the 1960s. People were out here singing 'We Shall Overcome.' It was pretty offensive for us as white males."

Others said they will be furious if the allegations against Dunn prove to be true.

"What she's doing is pushing the action onto students," said Brittany Lovejoy, 18, a freshman majoring in literature and government. "It makes our school look bad that students could do that. I think our generation is more advanced than that."

The consortium of seven independent institutions includes undergraduate colleges Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona and Scripps, as well as the Claremont Graduate University and the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences.

Collectively, the schools enroll about 5,500 students, nearly 30 percent of whom are minorities.