University of Hartford President Gregory Woodward met with students Wednesday night and Thursday on the West Hartford campus, listening to their concerns in the aftermath of a racially-charged incident between roommates that has garnered international attention.

By Ronni Newton

Students at the University of Hartford have been passionately expressing their support for freshman Chennel “Jazzy” Rowe who was bullied by her roommate through a series of covert – and disgusting – actions, as the racially-tinged incident has garnered the attention of media throughout the world.

Brianna Brochu,18, of Harwinton, was arrested Saturday and is no longer a student at the University of Hartford.

Poe residence hall on the University of Hartford campus. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Rowe, of Queens, NY, had lived with Brochu since the beginning of the fall semester in the all-freshman Poe residence hall on the West Hartford campus. She told police that she had ultimately requested a room change because Brochu “generally ignored her and treated her as a ‘ghost.’” Brochu is white and Rowe is black.

As Rowe was moving out, police said another dorm resident and two campus resident assistants told her about a social media post that Brochu had made on her “finsta” (fake Instagram) account “breezy_bumble_b” bragging about the multiple disgusting actions she had taken to get rid of her roommate, whom she referred to as”Jamaican Barbie.”

The post has since been deleted, but was captured in screen shots. It read: “Finally did it yo girl got rid of her roommate!! After 1 1/2 month of spitting in her coconut oil, and putting moldy clam dip in her lotions, rubbing used tampons oh her backpack, putting her toothbrush places where the sun doesn’t shine, and so much more I can finally say goodbye Jamaican Barbie.” Three photos followed the Instagram post, according to the police report.

“It was sick,” said freshman Emily Stack, of Waterbury, who lived in the dorm room next door to Rowe and Brochu. She said that a friend showed her the Instagram post on Oct. 17. “I was appalled,” Stack said. “It was vile … I didn’t think anyone could be that hateful.” Stack was the one who reported it to public safety.

University of Hartford President Gregory Woodward speaks with reporters Thursday afternoon after meeting with groups of students. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

After attending a gathering of about 400 students Wednesday night organized by various campus multi-cultural organizations, and meeting for face-to-face discussions with another 30 students at lunchtime Thursday, University of Hartford President Gregory Woodward said, “I’m so impressed with the students.” Woodward told reporters on Thursday afternoon that he is left with a “stronger feeling of unity and a positive way forward” from the incident.

The University of Hartford is the most diverse university in the region, Woodward said, with 43 percent students of color. It’s also is a fantastic mix of people, racially, culturally, and socio-economically, he said.

“This is a terrible event. None of us are psychics, we couldn’t have predicted it was going to happen. It was an act by an individual which is horrible,” Woodward said. And while he said he can’t promise it won’t happen again, he said, “What we’re going to think about is how do we educate our community to speak up when they see injustice, racism, how do we educate our students to address that, recognize it, take it forward with them as they enter their lives and become good citizens.”

Woodward said he has gotten many great suggestions from students for how to move forward. He plans to meet with representatives of cultural organizations beginning next week to craft a formal plan and talk about “what will be an actual physical plan that we will take. I want step-by-step. We will have these orientation events, we will do these educational practices …” Students have said they want to have a required class on cultural sensitivity, racial sensitivity, and micro-aggression, and Woodward said he’s all for it.

“Clearly we’ve got work to do, but are we alone in this … Hatred is kind of fashionable at the moment which is really unfortunate,” Woodward said. “Let’s come out of this stronger on the other side by putting into place not just a lot of talk but actual things, classes, seminars.”

Woodward said that police were called the very night the incident was brought to the attention of public safety by Stack. He praised West Hartford Police for securing the warrant for Brochu’s arrest so quickly, and thinks it was handled appropriately, following the University’s student conduct code.

Woodward was not personally informed about the incident until Rowe spoke out about it in a nearly-two-hour Facebook Live post on Monday night.

The Facebook Live post went viral, and to date has been viewed more than 1.5 million times. Lauren Geary, from Rockland County, NY, is also a freshman living in the same residential complex as Rowe and learned about the incident from the video. “No one really thinks anyone is capable of stuff like that,” she said.

University of Hartford Student Government President Bryson Owen. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Student Government Association President Bryson Owen, a senior from Long Island, said he is inspired by the reaction of the students. “I’ve seen students using their voices and standing up.”

Owen said his top priority is to work for the students, with the administration, to make sure their concerns are being addressed. “The first step is open dialogue,” he said, which began on Wednesday night at the town hall meeting.

“I believe President Woodward has done everything that he can to address the situation in a timely manner,” Owen said. He said he would like to believe that the University would not have treated the incident any differently if the races of victim and perpetrator were reversed.

Brochu turned herself in to police Saturday afternoon and has been charged with third-degree criminal mischief and second-degree breach of peace. After further review of the incident, West Hartford Police have determined that Brochu’s actions were racially-motivated, and have asked the court to also add felony charges of “intimidation based on bigotry or bias.”

She appeared in court on Wednesday and the case has now been transferred to Superior Court in Hartford. Brochu’s next appearance is Nov. 15.

Brochu admitted to police that she licked the victim’s plate, fork, and spoon, spread a used tampon on the victim’s backpack, and tampered with the lotion on the victim’s desk, but told police that the rest of what she posted about on Instagram “was a lie in an attempt to ‘appear funny.’”

When asked what the biggest takeaway was, Woodward said, “This incident is horrible and we don’t want to see it every repeated although I can’t make that guarantee, but it might be an opportunity here to make people more aware, to have their vision changed so they see racism when it happens right in front of them and they recognize it as such and they speak up.”

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