Police were called on a black college student who was eating her lunch on campus this week by a college employee who said she looked 'out of place' in the latest in a string of racially charged confrontations that appear to be sweeping America.

Oumou Kanoute was taking a break from her on-campus job at Smith College, a private college in Northampton, Massachusetts, on Tuesday when a white cop arrived to ask her what she was doing there.

The New Yorker is an undergraduate at the college but is spending the summer working as a teaching assistant and residential adviser on one of its summer programs.

As the students on the summer program ate in a dining hall on Tuesday, Kanoute decided to take her food to a common room and eat alone in peace.

Within minutes of sitting down, she was confronted by a white police officer who asked: 'We were wondering what you were doing here?' after entering the common room.

Kanoute, who filmed their exchange and put the video on Facebook, nervously responded: 'I was just eating my lunch.'

The undergraduate student later claimed that she was told the person who called police said she looked like a 'suspicious black male' who was 'out of place'.

Oumou Kanoute, the student, shared the video on Facebook

'This person didn't try to bring their concerns forward to me,but instead decided to call the police.

'I did nothing wrong, I wasn't making any noise or bothering anyone.

'All I did was be black. It's outrageous that some people question my being at Smith Collge, and my existence overall as a women of color.

'I was very nervous, and had a complete meltdown after this incident. It's just wrong and uncalled for,' she wrote.

In a caption on her video, she wrote: 'So I'm sitting down minding my own damn business and someone calls the cops on me.

'This is why being black in America is scary.'

The college said the incident has raised 'concerns' in the community but it is refusing to name the person who made the call.

Their excuse is that it could stop others from calling the police in the future.

'This incident has raised concerns in our community about bias and equity. Such behavior can contribute to a climate of fear, hostility and exclusion that has no place in our community.

'We have reached out to the student to offer support and discuss next steps, and will conduct an investigation of the incident with the employee, with Human Resources and with Campus Police.

The cop asked Kanoute: 'We were just wondering what you were doing here' before explaining that someone had called to say there was a 'suspicious black male' who looked 'out of place'

Kanoute is an undergraduate at the college but she is spending the summer working as a teaching assistant on one of its summer programs

'We have received multiple requests to release the name of the individual who called Campus Police.

'Under college policy, any campus police records that are released must redact the names of parties involved.

'This policy recognizes the potentially adverse consequences of releasing identifying information, especially in those cases where doing so may discourage the use of this critical safety resource,' it said.

Kanoute is now demanding that the release the person's name.

'I demanded that the administration share the name of the person who made the 911 call so that they can confront and acknowledge the harm done to me as a student.

'I worked my hardest to get into Smith, and I deserve to feel safe on my campus,' she fumed on Facebook.

Kanoute's experience is one of a string of similar incidents that have been filmed across the country in the last several months.

All involve a white person calling authorities to report a person of color who they felt was behaving suspiciously or potentially illegally.