Charlene Roe

Charlene Roe is a UWindsor receptionist that called the police in response to a black student’s efforts to follow up on a human rights complaint that he had submitted to the office 6 weeks earlier with no response. In a recording of the call obtained by the black student by way of a Freedom of Information Request, Charlene can be heard stating that a “black male” who was “loitering” was there “ratting out profs and other students”. Charlene also falsely alleged that the student had refused to state his name or “his business” when asked (all of which were false allegations as can be verified through the student’s recording of the visit). Despite the fact that the University has initiated an investigation into Charlene’s actions, to the best of our knowledge, she has not been suspended during the investigation and is still being permitted to deal with other black students.

On June 19th, 2019, Jordan Afolabi submitted a comprehensive, 23-page human rights claim concerning the above described actions of Danieli Arbex to the President’s office (Douglas Kneale, at the time). This complaint was sealed and marked “Confidential, To Be Opened Only By the President of University of Windsor: Douglas Kneale”. Contained in this complaint were audio recordings of every incident that has occurred thus far in Jordan’s experience exonerating himself and having his suspension and charges dropped. This complaint included details regarding Danieli Arbex’s discriminatory pushing of the panic button despite having called Jordan to her office, evidence of her not having done the bare minimum to understand the assault on Jordan by Joseph Yakow (despite this being mandatory due process), and more. The complaint cited campus regulations and bylaws, and also drew from Ontario Human Rights law in order to substantiate the contained claims. Jordan submitted this complaint with the expectation that the University would respond promptly in accordance with Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) Policy. According to the set of six criteria for a proper response to a human rights complaint outlined in OHRC policy, complaints received by Ontario institutions “must be acted upon promptly when received”. It was on this basis that Jordan set his expectations. 

On the approximate date of June 25th, 2019, Jordan attended Assumption Hall briefly to follow up with Charlene Roe on his complaint. This was their first meeting. Jordan inquired as to whether or not Charlene recalled seeing an envelope marked confidential. Charlene responded affirmatively that she remembered seeing one but did not know much else. Jordan thanked her and left. The conversation was brief and uneventful. 

Some hours after visiting the HR department, Jordan attended the Assumption building looking to follow up on the email he had sent in accordance with the instructions he had received from the Charlene during their last conversation. When he arrived, the lobby workstation was empty, so he walked around the corner of the lobby into the east facing hallway to search for someone to speak. Jordan has stated he was not certain if the receptionist was on vacation because it was mid summer at the time. Jordan also recalls the doors on both sides of the counter were propped wide open with several people walking in and out of each– some of which Jordan stated looked to be students. As Jordan searched for someone, Charlene appeared from around the far south corner of the hallway looking startled and visibly upset to see him. Jordan’s interaction with the secretary was short but the details are significant. The conversation is described in greater detail in our article. Upon seeing her Jordan greeted her and asked “Are you coming back?” Charlene responded with a series of interrogation and accusations. The following video is a recording of their conversation:

Jordan later obtained a recording of the call Charlene had made to the police. The details of which follow below: 

CHARLENE IMPLIES JORDAN CAME 3 TIMES IN ONE DAY

In the first few seconds of her call to the police, Charlene somewhat truthfully states that it was Jordan’s third time attending the Assumption Hall building. What she omits to say is that it was his third time in the span of 42 days. It would seem that she intentionally portrays the matter as though the student had attended the building three times in one day without an appointment. Even if this had been the case, the behaviour would still not amount to criminal activity and certainly would not warrant police intervention; tuition-paying UWindsor students are entitled to attend open admin buildings as often as they need with or without an appointment, and such is actually the norm for many administrative offices such as the Registrar and Cashier departments. 

CHARLENE ALLEGES JORDAN REFUSED TO ID/DEMANDED TO SEE PRESIDENT

Also notable in the brief 25-second exchange is that at no point can Charlene be heard asking Jordan for his name and at no point does Jordan refuse to “state his business” even though Charlene is heard in the recording falsely alleging that Mr. Afolabi had refused to identify himself to her and had also refused to state his business in the building. Further, these accusations are seemingly strange enough on their own as the area of the building in question is freely accessible to all UWindsor students and being present there does not typically require explanation. Beyond this though, is the fact that– despite Charlene alleging that he had done so– not once in the recording is Jordan heard demanding to speak with the president. 

CHARLENE ALLEGES JORDAN AGGRESSIVELY SAYS “YOU CALM DOWN”

A particularly troubling segment in Charlene’s call to the police occurs when she claims to be fearful of returning alone to the lobby where the student was waiting because he had asked her to be calm. At multiple points, Charlene states:

“He said ‘you calm down’. That’s why I don’t want to go out there. And he won’t give us his name– he just keeps wanting to come in here.

…

I’m a little leery to go out there by myself; That’s why I’m in Laura’s Office…[operator responds briefly]…I can’t see him from here. That’s the only thing. So if I go to the lobby I’m back with him, and he’s already told me to calm down.”

Asking a person to “calm down” should not be considered a threat or escalation, but rather a demonstrated effort to diffuse animosity; However, Charlene’s interpretation of a request to calm down as an escalating threat, instead of an attempt to diffuse the situation, is a clear sign of racially-influenced bias. Considering a hypothetical scenario in which Jordan had angrily accosted the secretary, rightfully demanded to know why his Human Rights Claim was unlawfully ignored for 42 days by her institution, and subsequently called the police in response to the secretary’s request that he “calm down”, the truth hidden by the active double standard should become apparent; calling the police on any human requesting to speak in a calm manner is a highly inappropriate abuse of EMS services. Further, doing so while acting on a racial bias is an even greater abuse of Canadian Human Rights. 

CHARLENE TELLS POLICE THAT JORDAN IS “RATTING OUT PROFS”

Lastly, despite claiming Jordan had refused to state his business (yet never asking what his business was in the first place), Charlene seemed to be fully aware of the nature of Jordan’s visits. In fact, during her call to the police, she describes Jordan’s human rights claim with great detail stating that Jordan had submitted an anonymously signed written document and was “ratting out profs and other students”. This is a very disturbing detail because as stated, Jordan had submitted a 23-page claim in a sealed envelope explicitly labelled “Urgent and confidential to be opened only by the president of University of Windsor: Dr. Douglas Kneale”. UWindsor’s own policies unequivocally state that “employees are given access to information contained in student records on a strict, need-to-know basis”. 

This is important because Charlene is not the president’s secretary– nor is she listed in the University’s staff directory as a member of the president’s office staff team which has its own secretary and assistant. Charlene works as the lobby receptionist of the building in which the president’s office– as well as several other offices– are located. Any suggestion that she opened a package marked “confidential only to be opened by the president” on account of her secretarial duties to the president are heavily undermined by these facts.

We can’t say for certain how Charlene knew with such detail what was in the sealed envelope Jordan had mailed, but if we had to venture a guess, we’d speculate it was certainly against UWindsor privacy policies. In any case, Charlene’s knowledge of the complaint and her willingness to openly speak disparagingly of a black student’s effort to peacefully assert his lawful right to self-advocacy is cause for serious questioning of UWindsor’s Human Rights Policy. 

POLICE ARRIVE AND QUESTION JORDAN

Not knowing Charlene had made the call to the police and expecting she would simply return with a senior executive, Jordan made his way back to the lobby to wait.

Suddenly, four police officers entered and directed Jordan to exit the building with them. Outside, Jordan was detained and questioned by the officers who were under the impression that there was an “excitable” student refusing to leave until he spoke with the president. It wasn’t until after he played the recording of the interaction that he was allowed to leave by the police. Jordan recalls that the officers seemed confused by the reality of what they heard in contrast to the false statements that Charlene Roe had made.

DOUGLAS KNEALE BANS JORDAN

Despite the officers opting not to arrest Jordan, former Interim President Douglas Kneale instructed them to issue a trespass order permanently banning Jordan from the building at the requests of the secretaries– who the officers described as being “animate” in “fear for their safety”. This order remains in effect till this day even though the University has made no finding of misconduct on Jordan’s part nor provided any official reason or process of appeal.

DOUGLAS KNEALE INTENTIONALLY IGNORED JORDAN’S LETTER

In addition, the officer that relayed Douglas Kneale’s trespass order to Jordan also expressed that the president was in fact in receipt of Jordan’s initial complaint and that he had intentionally chosen no to act on it— citing the fact that he was on the tail end of his presidential duties and did not want to risk complicating his return to the provost role by involving himself in any situation that would potentially cause a conflict of interest for him in his new role. He then added (as relayed by the officer) that he “will respond to it maybe in a week”. To date, Jordan has received absolutely nothing in the form of a response from Dr. Kneale.

JORDAN SUBMITS A NEW COMPLAINT

In response to the incident, Jordan drafted yet another complaint to the University, specifying the numerous Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) policies that had been violated in their response to him. Jordan forwarded a copy of this complaint to both President Douglas Kneale as well as Vice President of Student Affairs Ryan Flannagan. In the complaint, Jordan cites multiple portions of Ontario Human Rights Commission Policy and declares his unwillingness to abandon his complaints and informs the University that he would not intimidated by any threats or acts of reprisals stating:

“In conclusion, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not willing to abandon my complaints. This matter will not just ‘go away’ for the University by ignoring me. I will continue to fiercely pursue my complaints against the University. The university will respond to them in accordance with human rights regulations. If they do not, this will constitute a further breach of my human rights. It will result in further complaints, and if these further complaints are not dealt with, the cycle will continue. You must understand that there is no version of this matter that concludes with my capitulation to unlawful threats, negligence, abuse, or reprisals.”

The full complaint can be read below: