Two students originally from Colombia said they felt discriminated against following an incident with an institutional safety officer on March 11 in the Engineering and Information Technology Complex (EITC).
Juliana Rueda said that she was sleeping on the couches in the open student space around noon in the EITC with her boyfriend Sebastian Munevar when an officer woke them up and left her in a situation “[feeling] extremely threatened.”
“We were sort of cuddling on the couch, and we can understand if that is not allowed […] the part that we’re not okay with is the way she approached us,” said Rueda.
Rueda claims that the officer said that they were breaking the rules for sleeping, were going to be reported to their faculties and had to leave campus.
According to Security Services, sleeping on campus is only permitted in residences for personal safety reasons and under building code requirements.
Rueda alleges that the officer began asking personal questions, such as what her mother would say if she saw her, and “what do you have going on that you can’t sleep at night?”
“When we started to refuse to answer [the] personal questions, she started getting mad and saying that we were being ‘disrespectful,’ that we were not helping out,” she said.
Officer was ‘mocking us’ for speaking Spanish, says Rueda
According to Rueda, Munevar, who had also been sleeping, then started speaking Spanish asking what is going on.
“[The officer] turned around and was like ‘why can’t you say it to my face,’” claims Rueda, who said she clarified to the officer that they were speaking to each other in Spanish — their native language.
Rueda stated that the officer said “you can continue your buenos dias or whatever somewhere else.”
Buenos dias is a Spanish phrase for “good morning,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Rueda claims that the officer also inquired if they were Canadian.
“Sebastian told her we have our permanent residence. And she was like, ‘yeah, because Canadians are friendly,” said Rueda.
“And then I asked her, what are you implying? Is it that we’re not friendly or because our culture is not friendly?”
Rueda said that the officer denied making that implication, stating, “I’m just saying that, you know, Canadians are friendly.”
Witnesses confirm remarks
“It was very uncomfortable the way the security guard came in and was berating them,” said one witness to the Manitoban who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons.
“And I remember the second she said, ‘you can continue your buenos dias or whatever, like just do it somewhere else,’ I turned to my friend and I said, ‘she can’t say that,” said the witness who was studying nearby.
Wesisa Sifuma, another witness that spoke to the Manitoban, said that her boyfriend recorded part of the interaction which has since been circulated on social media.
In the video, the officer is seen asking students nearby if they “feel comfortable having people lying on top of each other in a public space.”
Students could be heard responding with statements of approval, followed by the officer responding, “what if they were people that — you know what, I’ve got nothing.”
“Juliana and her boyfriend, they were not making us uncomfortable at all,” said the witness.
The officer is heard in the video stating, “I’m not doing anything bad” and “I’m doing my job.” She is also heard saying, “I’m asking you to pack up your stuff and have this conversation somewhere else,” twice.
Rueda claims that with others starting to get involved, the officer stated that she wanted to take the conversation to a private setting.
“We refused, just because we didn’t feel safe with her and we just wanted people around if anything were to happen,” said Rueda, who stated that the conversation moved to the hallway.
She claims that the officer apologized for being harsh but said that “when an authority figure comes up to you and says to do something, you do it.”
Rueda said that she and Munevar eventually left EITC and immediately went to Student Advocacy in UMSU University Centre to file a report.
Institutional safety officers, as seen in this file photo, were deployed at the U of M in May 2024 to assist campus security.
Security Services calls information ‘concerning’
“We are aware of the situation,” stated Security Services in a statement. “The information is concerning, and we want to assure you that we are treating this matter seriously.”
Security Services stated that “the situation is being formally addressed,” but did not share details citing protection under privacy legislation.
“I felt like I wasn’t safe in that situation,” said Rueda. “And it was really shocking because this is a person that’s supposed to be keeping us safe and keeping the peace.”
“I definitely felt discriminated against, especially because of all of this, things that she said about us not being Canadian and not being friendly and mocking us in Spanish.”
Munevar said he also felt discriminated and shocked.
Institutional safety officers are licensed security officers that can carry batons, handcuffs and aerosol weapons with some powers to arrest individuals.
They were deployed at the university in May 2024 to assist with campus security following amendments to the Police Services Act.
