Carl L. Breeding, a Jackson city councilman and local NAACP official, said the Jackson County chapter’s officials met with four Jackson Community College officials and their attorney on Monday to discuss the college’s ban of Reginald Collins from campus.
JCC kicked Collins off campus last month for allegedly saying the Virginia Tech gunman “had it right” to a professor and during a class.

The local NAACP chapter sent JCC the following list of demands:

Jackson County Branch NAACP P. O. Box 4074 Jackson, Michigan 49204 Phone: (517) 784-3842, Fax: (517) 784-0582 naacpjackson @modempool.com

RECOMMENDATIONS TO RESTORE MR. REGINALD COLLINS. MAY 14, 2007

The action by President Phelan and the college could endanger Mr. Reginald Collins’ future employment, his ability to secure financial support from lending agencies, his ability to enroll
in other institutions of learning, his ability purchase property and/or get credit, etc., etc., etc. His name could be placed on” special lists” maintained by law enforcement authorities and homeland security.

IN ORDER TO MAKE MR. COLLINS WHOLE AGAIN, THE JACKSON COUNTY BRANCH NAACP BELIEVES THAT THE JACKSON COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND PRESIDENT PHELAN MUST DO THE FOLLOWING:
• Purge and seal any and all relative JCC records with proof of same related records
• Pay for any necessary court litigation, which may be needed to purge any and all in the custody of Foote Hospital and the County Sheriff Department.
• Return Mr. Collins to campus and give him a passing grade for all of his classes
• Compensate Mr. Collins in the amount of not less than $100,000.00 for pain and suffering and punitive damages.
• Issue a public, verbal and written, apology
• Paid for Mr. Collins’ tuition
• Assign a student advocate for Mr. Collins
• Provide Mr. Collins with quality academic counseling services
• Provide sensitivity training for JCC administration and staff, especially Mr. Collins’ instructors and counselors
• Embrace Mr. Collins and make him feel apart of the total JCC community.
• BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY RESTORE MR REGINALD COLLINS’ CREDIBILITY
AND REPUTATION
• NOTIFY ALL CAMPUS PERSONS WHO HAVE KNOWLEDGE THAT MR. REGINALD
COLLINS IS A JCC STUDENT IN GOOD STANDING.
• Add an appeal process to the “Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook” which will include real student rights. Student’s Attorney/representative should be able to ask questions.
• BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY THE JACKSON COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND PRESIDENT DANIEL J. PHELAN MUST LEGITIMATIZE MR. REGINALD COLLINS’TOTAL RESTORATION IN THE JCC COMMUNITY

Submitted by:

Arlene Robinson, President, Jackson County Branch NAACP

UPDATE

This morning, JCC spokeswoman Cindy Allen said the college’s attorney is reviewing the NAACP’s suggestions and that the college wants to resolve the situation quickly.
Cut she later added: “We can’t give a kid a passing grade because Carl (Breeding) says so.”

…
According to a Jackson County Sheriff’s Office report, the action against Reginald Collins was taken last month after JCC faculty reported he made statements in class and to a college employee that “he did not think the shooter was crazy” and that shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, “had it right.”

JCC President Daniel Phelan met with Collins, barred the 32-year-old Jackson man from campus and ordered him to undergo a psychological examination before he would consider readmitting him, according to JCC correspondence with Collins. (Collins released the letters to the Citizen Patriot.)

Collins agreed to let police take him to Foote Hospital for an evaluation, according to the police report. Records show police and mental-health examiners judged Collins was not a danger to himself or others.

However, Collins remains banned from JCC.
…
Collins denies making the statements about the Virginia Tech shootings.
…
However, Deputy Todd Whiting told Phelan during an interview that it “does not appear to be totally accurate” that Collins made that statement, and Cale never made such an allegation.

When interviewed by deputies, Collins admitted to making a comment in class that “It is gonna happen again, wait and see.”

But Collins also told the officer “he was just simply stating a fact that it’s gonna happen again.”

Whiting’s report states he “felt that Mr. Collins was being truthful.”

JCC’s Workplace Threats and Violence policies state “even without an actual threat, personnel should also report any behavior they have witnessed which they regard as threatening or violent, when that behavior is job related or might be carried out on college property.”

Jackson County Undersheriff Thomas Finco said JCC’s handling of the incident was proper.

“You have to take every statement as a potential threat,” Finco said.