On June 2, campus security was called to investigate a car parked in the fire lane on the Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. The car belonged to Tresor Kumugo, a returning student from the Congo. Another student assumed that the local police had been called and was upset. He posted his frustrations to a semi-private Facebook group and the responses escalated. The Gordon-Conwell administration team is taking this situation seriously and looking into what occurred. We would like to share the detailed facts of the matter here, below. We will update them as we learn more.
(Last Updated: June 3, 11:12 am)
June 2, 2020
- Tresor Kumugo, a returning student was moving into C building on the Hamilton campus. He parked (as many students do) in the fire lane in front of the building.
- Physical Plant sent a note to Gordon College Safety (police) saying there had been a car in the fire lane for two days at C building. (3:04 pm)
- When the officer arrived, the only car was Tresor’s car; the officer asked him about it and learned he was moving in. He responded, “That’s fine; just move your car when you are done.”
- Physical Plant then checked and noticed that it was a student and sent a follow-up email (too late) to disregard the request to check it out.
- Ross Light, another student and Tresor’s Resident Life Coordinator saw what he thought was the Hamilton Police (although it wasn’t Hamilton police).
- At 4:01 pm Ross posted, “Someone just called the police on my friend and a new resident to C-Building. … Did I mention my friend and new neighbor is black?”
June 3, 2020
- Mia Ertel, Chief of Staff spoke with both Tresor Kumugo and Ross Light to establish the facts.
- Scott W. Sunquist, President met with both students to discuss the issues.
- Ross Light posted an update to the page correcting some original misinformation and encouraging his community.