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i work in an academic library at a private school. we have strict rules about who can use our collection, since we're not a public library. whenever we get visitors they have to be over 18, show proper ID, and sign a visitors sheet.

recently there have been a group of high school boys coming in to use our computers (we have 6 stations for visitors to use). the student workers at the front desk didn't check to make sure the boys were 18 and let them in. one day they got kinda noisey, so my supervisor asked them to leave. they made a fuss, campus security was called, and they were told not to come back. they have since returned a few times and campus security has been there to deal with them each time.

i feel a little weird cos i don't mind them being in the library as long as they're quiet. then again, they're not 18 and are only using the computers to check their myspace pages. they're taking away computers from other visitors who actually need to do real academic research. also, whenever they get asked to leave they make claims of the staff being racist towards them (all the boys are african-american). i can see where they're coming from -- a group of tall black boys wearing super-large clothing, cornrow'ed hair, practicing their street/thug swagger could be intimidating to the old white ladies who work here.

i just feel weird about the situation. we have rules that all visitors should go by. plus, the public library is only a few blocks down the street. the boys only come here cos the public library limits their computer use time. but i wonder if the staff would react the same way to the boys if they were of a different race. anyone have any opinions on this matter?

This never would of happened if they were Mexican. You don't even know. My people would sneak by you so quick and stealthy you wouldn't even know we were there. Until you looked up an your computers magily vanished.

LOL you're too much sometimes xd

That "looking suspicious" is ********. I think white people look suspect. I don't call security everytime I walk into my office and theres some vanilla face on my computer because his crashed. I just say.

"Hey marshmeellow skin. Get outta my office."

Then they usually reply with. "Hey stfu before I call immigration.

Then I usually throw something.

Okay serious time now.

Rules are rules. Period. if the kids are not supposed to be in there becaus they're under age, then they can't be in there. If its a school computer I think students who need to do real work should be given priority over myspace whores.

Ordinarily I'd say they shouldn't be there since they aren't 18 anyway, but race makes this a special case. I can't help but thinking that them being black has something to do with it. Even when they are quiet, the security got called, because they "looked suspecious" (don't we all). So yheah, I think race is partly to blame.