Four black NIU students accused of shoplifting at the Holmes Student Center Bookstore on Jan. 21 are considering filing formal harassment complaints against bookstore employees. The students are offended by the way the bookstore’s employees handled the situation. They have every right to be.

The bookstore manager has yet to issue any kind of statement to explain just what these students did to arouse suspicion. The NIU community is left with the generalized statement of a bookstore employee to the accused students, “You people always want attention.”

“You people” presumably means “blacks.” It seems some store employees believe black students deliberately create tension by picking up merchandise and walking around with it as if they are shoplifting, though they are actually doing nothing illegal.

If there’s any truth to the accusation that some black students behave this way, it’s hard to blame them for playing mind games with the bookstore’s employees, considering the way they are treated when shopping there.

For example, the four students involved in this case were watched and followed when they entered the store. So far, there have been no allegations they did anything to attract suspicion other than simply walking in.

If every time black students walk into the bookstore, they find that security employees watch every move they make, it’s no wonder some might occasionally get a kick out of making the employees think there really is something to worry about.

The university community is entitled to an explanation for what happened. If the employees had specific legitimate reasons for believing these students had stolen merchandise, they should say so. The general excuse that “those people” always want attention is unacceptable. If there were no legitimate reasons for stopping the students, an apology should be immediately forthcoming.

Furthermore, a remark from a University Police officer to the students to “shut up and sit down” was positively uncalled for. It doesn’t matter if that officer had a dozen legitimate reasons for believing these four students had shoplifted—it was unnecessary, insulting and offensive for him to speak to them in that manner. The UP officer must be held accountable for this behavior.