The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has apologized after a video was posted online showing a Sikh student who was handcuffed for carrying a kirpan, a religious article that resembles a knife.
A statement released Friday, signed by the chancellor, Sharon L. Gaber, and Brandon L. Wolfe, the school’s chief diversity officer, said that university police had received a 911 call on Thursday that someone was in the student union with a knife.
“During this interaction, the individual was placed in handcuffs while officers took possession of the object. The handcuffs were removed after the object was retrieved,” the statement said. “Further investigation showed the item was a kirpan, an article of faith in Sikhism.”
Video of the incident was posted on the Twitter account @thatsamaan, and its user identified himself as the student in question. The post was widely shared on Twitter and Instagram. NBC News was unable to independently verify the Twitter account.
“I wasn’t going to post this, but I don’t think I will receive any support from @unccharlotte,” he tweeted. “I was told someone called 911 and reported me, and I got cuffed for ‘resisting’ because I refused to let the officer take my kirpan out of the miyaan.”
The police officer in the 44-second video told the student he couldn’t have the kirpan on him.
“OK. You can’t take it off me. You want me to take the whole thing off?” the student asked. He asked the police officer again if he wanted him to remove the kirpan and the gathra, which is the fabric that holds the kirpan and goes over his shoulder.
The police officer told the student to stand up and the student asked, “What are you doing to me, bro?” before the officer told him he was being detained.
“Such mistreatment of a Sikh student and gross ignorance displayed by the 76-year-old university about Sikhism shocked the Sikh community around the world. Sikhs have been part of the American social fabric for over a century. People on social media questioned the lack of understanding about Sikhism at the university, known for taking pride in its diversity,” United Sikh said in a statement.
The apology from the Chancellor stated, “State law and University policy prohibit the possession of a knife or other edged instruments on campus, but we will use this as a learning opportunity by engaging in constructive dialogue with Sikh students and employees. Together, we are confident we can find reasonable measures and educational opportunities that both protect the safety of our campus and the religious practices of our community members.”
