After sharing her concerns nearly five months ago about the lack of safety on the campus of Jackson State University, another professor there has become a victim of crime.
Dr. Janice Neal-Vincent, who also doubles as a freelance writer for The Mississippi Link, was engaged in a one on one meeting last week in her office, which is located in The Rose E. McCoy Auditorium, when the attack occurred. “We heard this loud bang on the door. In fact, it was so loud we weren’t really sure what it was,” Neal-Vincent said. “He was able to get in and make his way to me. He began to scream and hit me with his fist.”
The accuser is 22-year-old Donald Plummer.
Neal-Vincent said Plummer is one of her former students. “He came to me during one of our summer sessions before ’09 and was enrolled in a basic Speech Arts Class. I don’t remember having that much dialogue with him, nothing really stands out in my mind about him.”
Neal-Vincent believes she was a specific target of Plummers’.
“I do believe it was deliberate and perhaps could qualify as stalking,” she said. “During this entire ordeal, I am learning more and more and have since learned from several people on campus including campus security that Plummer admitted to having me in his head.”
Neal-Vincent is also concerned about not being notified of that declaration. “It seems to me that someone would have taken enough interest in the safety of me and not just me but the entire campus community and would have notified me,” she added.
Neal-Vincent has been employed at JSU since 1978 and left in 1986 to pursue her doctorate degree. She returned in 1989 and credits her move back to Jackson and JSU as being ordained by God. “This is a calling on my life, God brought me back,” Neal-Vincent said.
Neal-Vincent isn’t sure about when or if she will return to the campus that is located in West Jackson. “My calls for increased security are more important now than ever before. Not because this simply happened to me, but for the safety of the entire JSU population,” she said.
The professor credits another student with saving her life.
“I believe had it not been for Carlton Bryant being in my office and helping to restrain Plummer, I wouldn’t be here today talking to you,” she said. Efforts to reach Bryant before press time were unsuccessful, however, he told a reporter at 16 WAPT that he was ‘frustrated with the university response.’
Meanwhile, JSU Interim President Dr. Les McLemore said that there are some safety concerns on campus that he is addressing. “I do believe that our campus is safe, but I also believe that we have some areas that we can improve in and we are addressing those areas,” McLemore said.
Plummer meanwhile was released from jail on a $2,500 bond and was charged with possession of a concealed weapon and simple assault. According to police reports, when he was arrested he was loaded down with weapons, including a machete.
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