Hampshire College.jpg

Hampshire College.

(John Courtmanche )

BELCHERTOWN - A 20-year-old Hampshire College student is currently facing charges after allegedly attacking a visiting basketball player over the player's "culturally appropriated" hair braids, according to the

.

Carmen Figueroa, of Brooklyn, pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and disorderly conduct in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown on Friday.

The charges were incurred as the result of an incident that occurred at Hampshire College's Robert Crown Center on January 27.

During the incident, Figueroa allegedly walked up to members of the Central Maine Community College women's basketball team and demanded that they remove braids from their hair, calling "cultural appropriation."

When the girls did not do as Figueroa asked, she allegedly initiated a fight with one of them. At the same time, another Hampshire College student who has not been identified is said to have pulled the hair of one of the visiting players, which caused her to fall down.

Figueroa then allegedly stepped on the player who had fallen, which injured her, according to court documents.

One of the other players stepped in to attempt to protect her team mate, but Figueroa allegedly "grabbed her by the head and threw her to the ground"--which caused her to suffer scratches, say the court documents.

Coaches came to break up the fight--at which time Figueroa is said to have been "screaming swears and racial slurs" and had attempted to punch the visiting basketball players.

The school has confirmed that Figueroa is a student at Hampshire College but hasn't commented on the incident.

"Because it's an active, ongoing District Court proceeding, the College has no comment at this time," said Hampshire College Media Officer John Courtmanche, in an email to The Republican.

The topic of "cultural appropriation" has become a heated issue on many college campuses in recent years.

Defined loosely, it refers to the adoption of a culturally specific item by someone not directly involved in that culture.

In 2015, students at the private liberal arts school Oberlin College protested the school cafeteria's "cultural appropriation" of Vietnamese cuisine after the school used the "wrong ingredients" to cook a banh mi sandwich. At the time, Oberlin's student newspaper also apparently called the cafeteria sushi a product of the school's "culturally appropriative sustenance system."