Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio left most students and the professor of a justice and social inquiry class shocked by a comment, which the majority of students in the lecture deemed racist.
Michael Coyle, who teaches JUS 310, a course on corrections and justice, invited Arpaio to share with the class on Nov. 8 his perspective and policies on correctional institutions.
The format for the visit included Arpaio lecturing for half the class time, with a question and answer session during the second half, Coyle said.
Students in the class said the session became tense when Arpaio called on Ubong Ekpo, an interdisciplinary senior, who is black.
Arpaio referred to Ekpo as "the football player," said both Ekpo and Coyle, a graduate student at ASU.
"I was in a way angry, because I've been through similar situations," Ekpo said. "There's a kind of notion with me being African-American here on campus that I'm not here for academics, I've got to be playing football or basketball."
Ekpo, originally a native of Nigeria, said Arpaio did not address other students with a similar comment.
Arpaio said he is not racist and neither is the remark he made.
"I can't understand where these people are coming from other than the fact they just don't like the way I run law enforcement and the jail system as the sheriff," Arpaio said.
That night, Coyle drafted a letter, which all students in the class signed excluding one, to Arpaio expressing their "grievous disappointment and offense we experienced in your comments toward an African-American male student in our class," the letter reads.
"Your comment, identifying a person as a football player because of his race, was offensive not only to the student but also to the entire class," the letter reads. "We are alarmed that a person of your public stature and authority, a person managing one of the country's three largest jail populations, can be so race insensitive."
The letter was faxed and e-mailed to Arpaio's office by Coyle, and was received Monday and verified through a phone call Coyle made to Arpaio's office.
Ekpo said Arpaio's comment left him feeling "singled out" because he was the only black student in class.
Arpaio said he watches ASU football and thought he saw him on the team.
"Well, he looked like a football player to me," Arpaio said. "What am I supposed to call him, a basketball player?"
Coyle said after Arpaio made the comment there was a dead silence for a couple of seconds.
Ashley Kelly, a justice and social inquiry senior in the class, said she was surprised Arpaio would make such an outward comment.
"It was such a shock when he said that, I think our whole class just kind of looked around the room, just in disbelief like, 'did he really just say that?' " she said.
Ekpo said he asked Arpaio what makes him think he is a football player and Arpaio said it was because of the clothes he was wearing, which included a sweatshirt with a G-Unit logo on it.
Arpaio said he did not refer to Ekpo as a football player because of the clothes he was wearing, but simply because he was a "big guy" and looked like a football player.
Kelly said she was sitting in front of Ekpo when the comment was made.
"By that time the moment had kind of passed and I think everybody just kind of let it sink in, and then I realized, 'oh my gosh, that was completely racist,' " Kelly said.
Arpaio said accusing him of racism is "ridiculous."
"Everybody knows I am not, and I am saying again I have an adopted African-American grandkid," he said.
Coyle said Arpaio's comment reflects on how unrecognized the problem of racial oppression is.
"There really is no other way to characterize that remark other than racist," he added.
Arpaio originally said he is not going to apologize for the comment because it is a "non-issue."
"What if he was a football player?" Arpaio said. "If he wants to call me, I'll be glad to talk to him and I'm going to try and get him to try out for the ASU team."
Coyle said he and Arpaio spoke Wednesday via telephone.
"After some conversation, I reassured him that I did not think he was a racist pig or something of that type," Coyle said. "I also explained to him how this type of comment has, in the past, been used to argue African-Americans went to college not on merit but on athletics scholarship and the like. This came as a real surprise to him."
Coyle said Arpaio asked him to give the class the following message:
"I did not realize this comment would bring offense; it was nothing personal; I'm sorry I offended."
Coyle also said Arpaio offered to come to see the class again on Monday so the students could speak to him about the situation.
Ekpo said the comment is nothing new for him throughout his four and a half years at ASU.
"I've experienced some types of discrimination on campus," he said. "As much as we'd like to call this campus diverse ... a lot of people are ignorant that there are other cultures out there."
Reach the reporter at shaina.levee@asu.edu.
