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Several dozen students from the University of Arizona protested Friday against the campus police for physically assaulting and racially abusing a black student this week.
The demonstrations took place less than an hour after the university announced that the two white attackers had been arrested and threatened with murder.
The students, who have not been identified, are white and were initially directed to a diversion training program for social justice instead of facing charges during Tuesday's attack, according to the protesters.
Arizona University President Robert C. Robbins said in a statement Thursday that he was angry and disappointed by the incident.
"We must come together and let people know, without reservation, that intolerance and discrimination do not belong here." If we do not have a safe, violence-free environment, of discrimination and hate, students will not be free to learn and pursue their dreams, "says Robbins.
A police report issued by the university's police department indicates that officers were summoned to Arbol de la Vida's residence around 23:24. Tuesday on a report that people were fighting.
The African-American student told his officers that two young white men called him the word insult and punched him in the head, the report said. The student suffered minor scratches on the right fingers, elbow and knee, according to the report.
The report indicates that the officers, after speaking to witnesses, found the men, who are students, who, according to them, attacked the black student.
Officers said the men appeared intoxicated, according to the report. One of the men said that he was trying to convince his friend to stop fighting the African-American student.
Men said that they could not remember much more of what had happened, according to the report.
The student said that he did not want to file a complaint against the attackers, according to the report.
This is the second high-profile case involving a clash between students and campus police.
In April, pressure was exerted on the school after the police filed a complaint against three students involved in a demonstration on the campus of US Border Patrol agents who were making a presentation.
The case drew national attention after the union representing the agents expressed anger at the students' behavior. The students were seen on a video taunting two officers who had been asked to make a presentation in front of a campus criminal justice club. They were later charged with petty offenses, but the case was dropped at the request of Pima County prosecutors and following several demonstrations by colleagues and professors.
On Friday, during the demonstration, students walked on campus shouting, "What do we want? Justice? When do we want it?"
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This post has been corrected to show that Robbins made his statement Thursday, not Friday.
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