President Corrigan made a rare appearance Wednesday night in what was supposed to be a general lecture class on social justice in higher education to address the issue of last week’s events involving the arrest of Ethnic Studies Professor Antwi Akom.

Akom, whose charges have been reduced to misdemeanors, was arrested when he returned to campus around 11 p.m. on the evening of Oct. 25 to retrieve a book from his office and allegedly refused to provide identification to campus security, according to the SF State police report.

Akom was the core of the hour-long discussion that involved the possibility of renegade campus police and extended to the safety of students, faculty and administration.

Corrigan refused to take a moral stand on the issue, but said he hoped that this will be the “beginning of a healing process” and to “restore a sense of community and trust” at SF State.

This week he appointed former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and former City Attorney Louise H. Renne to piece together last week’s events. He promised students that once Brown and Renne have finished their investigation and the university has received the results, any information will be shared with students and the faculty.

“I anticipate to have the report in two weeks. Not one person on campus, he or she, has the full picture at this time. I certainly don’t have the picture. The review team will provide us with the full picture,” he said.

Graduate student Mike Illich, described Corrigan’s actions as an example of political management to cut his losses. “It’s more damage control. He’s trying to direct attention somewhere else to deflect his accountability and he’s only willing to accept it when it’s positive,” he said.

Although Corrigan is making efforts to search and magnify the truth by appointing his own team of investigators, students and staff members who attended the meeting were discouraged by Corrigan’s vague answers on campus safety and the District Attorney’s refusal to drop the charges against Akom.

“I think the charges should be dropped. If they haven’t come up with any results after the fact, then there is no ground for the charges to be there. If they said he was stealing then that’s something , but if it’s some bullshit suspicion it should be dropped, especially if it’s going to affect his ability to teach,” said Jason Bell, the staff director of Project Rebound.

But Corrigan defended the university and explained that SF State has no role in deciding what will happen to Akom but that they have been corresponding very closely with the district attorney.

“I may not take any formal stance. I am constrained as a public employee in what I can in fact say, but we the university have had a discussion with the district attorney and we thought the felony charges were not appropriate and she will take that into account,” he said.

Acting Ethnic Studies Dean Kenneth Monteiro and Corrigan came to the defense of campus police when students conveyed their concern with campus safety and the possibility of renegade campus police. Monteiro admitted that the entire staff was not made aware of security tightening up on campus when the charges of offices have been alleged to be found opened during night construction which required buildings to be closed down at 10 p.m. and anyone found on the premises after hours would be required to show some identification.

Corrigan explained that although SF State is an open campus, class sessions are over by 10 p.m., but students and faculty have a one hour grace period to leave the property, but a free and open campus does not mean the restrictions placed on buildings are not carried out.

“It has something to do with reasonable assumptions of who should be in the building - it doesn’t matter what color or gender,” said Corrigan.

Akom is set to face misdemeanor charges on Nov. 16, and until then students in support of him are encouraged to wear orange armbands.