UPDATE: Jamie Barnes was released from Sacramento County Jail Wednesday morning. Barnes, a former student, is accused of making racist threats against American River College President Melanie Dixon. The Los Rios Police Department arrested Barnes Tuesday evening at City College for violating a restraining order.
The Los Rios Police Department arrested a student on the City College campus Tuesday evening for violating a restraining order put in place after the student made racist threats against the president of American River College.
In early March, ARC President Melanie Dixon, a Black woman, was “the victim of a series of racist, threatening messages from a former Los Rios student,” according to a March 10 statement issued by Los Rios Community College District Chancellor Brian King to staff. “The messages were aggressively vulgar and hateful. The messages were deeply, deeply upsetting, both personally and professionally.”
The district filed for a temporary restraining order against the student, Jamie Barnes, and “had a court date set for a hearing to make the action permanent,” according to King’s statement. The order includes protections for Dixon and prevents the student from accessing any Los Rios campus.
Image Courtesy of Los Rios Police Department
“The individual was arrested after she called into LRPD dispatch from the SCC campus and made a number of claims, all of them as yet unsubstantiated and none of them this time indicating a threat to any individual or the campus community,” according to a news release from the LRPD.
A City College custodian had noticed someone in a restroom on campus after hours and called the police, which led police to Barnes.
In a message to staff following the news of the student’s threats against Dixon, Debra Crumpton, president of the LRCCD Black Faculty and Staff Association, wrote, “Traversing through racism is a tall order that requires courage, commitment, resources, and the will to lead transformative change.”
Crumpton said the BSFA is convening a special listening meeting and gathering session to support Los Rios employees of color who have been triggered by the racist threats and harassment made against Dixon.
