By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Livingstone College officials say they are reviewing security policies after fights broke out during homecoming events over the weekend.

Livingstone confirmed a man charged late Saturday following an on-campus fight is a Livingstone College student. Police responded to the campus just after midnight for the third time after a disturbance was reported there.

Salisbury Police charged Khalil Maurice McCormick, 20, of Knightsdale with misdemeanor failure to disperse. He was issued a $1,500 secured bond and has since been released from the Rowan County jail. Livingstone officials say McCormick is a freshman at the college.
Police Capt. Shelia Lingle said Monday that McCormick was the only person arrested during the incident.

She added that McCormick just would not move along when repeatedly asked to by police.

In a statement to the Post, State Alexander, vice president of Livingstone College communications and public relations said it was a wonderful week of homecoming activities that were marred by a fight triggered by “people not in our student population.”

He said the majority of the students attending the event were having a great time until this incident where “a faction outside of the college infiltrated the homecoming dance.”

Alexander said the college is aggressively investigating the incident and working to determine which Livingstone students were involved. He said they will take appropriate action, according to the student judicial code.

On Monday, President Jimmy Jenkins held a number of meetings with student leaders, faculty, and administrators “to garner their input for establishing new policies and guidelines which will strengthen the rigor in which we manage and provide security measures for this kind of event,” Alexander said.

He added that Jenkins has either met with or has plans to meet with Salisbury city officials to collaborate with them and the police department on “best practices for policing these activities in the future.”

Alexander said prior to the incident, the college enjoyed the largest participation from alumni, students and Salisbury residents at events, including the largest homecoming parade in its history.

“These are challenging times we live in today. All it takes is one not well-intentioned person to create chaos in an otherwise peaceful and fun-loving activity. Livingstone College is not immune from the unforeseen happening, but will do all we can to mitigate the likelihood of this happening again,” Alexander said.

Salisbury Police along with Rowan County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Livingstone Police were working to get students to return to their dormitories and visitors to leave the area well beyond midnight.

In response to growing confrontations with officers and fighting by some members of the groups, tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. The crowd did disperse, police officials have said.

Officers tried to separate the students from the visitors. Lingle said on Monday they don’t know what started the fight. However, according to one student the Post spoke with there was more than one fight and they involved both students and visitors.

Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.