Kaitlyn Pohly, Contributing Photographer

Lauren Noble ’11, the founder and executive director of the Yale-based Buckley Institute, faces three misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct for allegedly using a racial slur repeatedly to refer to New Havener Gerno Allen last summer.

Allen, a Black employee at the 60 Wall St. Propark lot, told the New Haven Police Department that Noble had twice called him the N-word to his face when she approached him to raise issues with parking or moving her car in July 2023. Allen also alleged that Noble referred to him with the slur for a third time while in a conversation with his supervisor two weeks later. 

In February 2024, Allen pressed charges against Noble, launching an NHPD investigation into the incidents. NHPD issued a warrant for Noble’s arrest on May 28, and Noble turned herself into police custody on May 29, Christian Bruckhart, NHPD’s public information officer, confirmed to the News. Her court date is July 24. 

Noble denied saying the N-word toward or in reference to Allen in a statement to the NHPD. According to a police affidavit obtained by the News, she contested Allen’s account to the police and raised concerns that the timing of the charges — months after the alleged altercations — indicated that Allen and his supervisor, who cooperated with the police investigation, were “conspiring against her.”

Noble and the law firm representing her did not respond to the News’ multiple requests for comment. 

The alleged altercations 

Noble’s alleged use of the racial slur spanned over a three-week period in July 2023, according to Allen’s statements included in the police affidavit. 

Noble was allegedly attempting to park in the lot on July 6, 2023, when Allen informed her that it was full. He then claims to have heard Noble call him the N-word for the first time.

Allen said he interacted with Noble again on July 12 and July 13 to inform her car was blocked in by other vehicles. On the second date, after Noble’s vehicle was blocked in, Allen said Noble blamed him. 

Allen alleged that Noble responded to him by stating “You [expletive] get jobs and don’t know how to act,” calling him the N-word again.

The affidavit notes that there were no witnesses or camera footage for these interactions.

On another occasion on July 27, Allen’s supervisor, Missy Doss, notified Noble that she could not park in the lot due to an ongoing event. Doss later told the police that Noble refused to cooperate and she said “You and that N-word are not touching my vehicle.” Doss claimed that Allen was the “only African American” person in the lot at the time. 

Noble denied both Allen’s and Doss’s accounts of the July 27 incident. She told the police that Doss had demanded Noble hand over her car keys, which Noble refused because of her concerns her vehicle would become blocked and an attendant would no longer be present to assist her when she returned. 

After her interaction with Noble, Doss called her superiors at Propark, the company that manages the lot, according to the affidavit. 

Two Propark leaders, Rob Barone and Tamer Shaban, told the NHPD that the two of them and the lot’s property manager spoke to Noble at her office after the July 27 incident. According to Shaban, Noble asked the two Propark superiors to leave and spoke privately with the property manager. At the end of that meeting, the property manager reportedly stated that Noble would get a private parking spot to avoid further incidents.

Noble confirmed to the NHPD that she spoke with Shaban, Barone and the property manager and asked them to leave when they spoke of Allen’s claims against her.

Allen was subsequently reassigned to a separate lot, a choice Barone believes was made to prevent further issues, according to his statement. Shaban told the police that Allen was moved “willingly.”

According to Doss’s statement, Allen then made a claim with his union against Propark, wanting the company to apologize for resolving the dispute by giving Noble a private parking space. Doss stated that the claim was later dropped after Allen spoke with Doss, Barone and Shaban.

Doss declined to comment for this story. Shaban and Barone did not respond to the News’ inquiries. The News was not able to reach Allen or the property manager for comment.

The decision to press charges

NHPD first learned of the incidents on Aug. 14, 2023, when Allen filed a harassment complaint detailing the July 27 altercation. Allen shared Noble’s name and workplace with an officer, but the police were not able to get in contact with her, according to the affidavit. Allen declined to press charges at this time.

The lot at 60 Wall St. is owned by United Church on the Green and adjacent to the church’s parish. Shortly after Allen’s July 27 run-in with Noble, a member of the church community informed the minister, the Rev. Stephen G. Ray Jr., of the incident, according to Ray. 

Erskine McIntosh, a civil rights attorney now representing Allen, told the News that he learned about the incident around mid-January 2024 while at dinner with Ray. McIntosh then asked that Allen be given his contact information.

Allen called McIntosh, who explained to him the possibility of legal action.

McIntosh pointed to a case argued in the Connecticut Supreme Court in 2020 — State v. Liebenguth — in which the court unanimously found that a white person who called a Black New Canaan parking enforcement officer the N-word had committed a breach of peace in the second degree.

McIntosh helped Allen set up a meeting with an NHPD officer in late February to again report the July 27 incident. The NHPD subsequently launched an investigation, which lasted until late May. 

“I was relieved that a warrant was issued for her arrest, I was not surprised by it,” McIntosh said. “If there was any surprise, it was that she was not charged with the more serious crime of breaching peace, of the second degree.” 

Noble faces three misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct. McIntosh told the News that he has been exchanging letters with the prosecutor’s office about the possibility of raising the charges against Noble.

In an email to the News, Buckley trustee William F. B. O’Reilly dismissed the allegations against Noble as “false and defamatory.”

“Without qualification, the Institute including its Board of Trustees steadfastly supports and will continue to support her,” O’Reilly wrote. “The alleged incidents never happened, and the statements falsely attributed to her are entirely inconsistent with her beliefs and practices.”

Though Buckley programming is exclusive to Yale students and the institute has offices adjacent to Yale’s campus and involves several members of Yale’s faculty, it is independent of Yale. Noble is not employed by the University.

The Buckley Institute bills itself as an organization dedicated to advancing intellectual diversity and free speech at Yale across the political spectrum. In recent years, the organization drew attention and controversy for inviting high-profile conservative politicians and pundits such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, to campus.

The Buckley Institute’s offices are located at 265 Church St.