Students Protest Adding Armed Security Guards to Campus
“Students are raising concerns, as are faculty”
One of the schools in this story is Evergreen State College, which should come as a surprise to no one.
Campus Reform reports:
Student protesters: Armed police ‘endangers many’
The Evergreen State College and University of Rochester both recently experienced backlash in the form of protests to proposals for adding armed security guards to campus.
University of Rochester Public Safety Chief Mark Fischer submitted a proposal to the student senate Oct. 22 that would place armed officers on the school’s River and Eastman campuses, granting them unrestricted access to the areas.
“DPS officers are better trained than any area law enforcement agency and understand our university community and culture,” Fischer wrote in a proposal to the school’s Public Safety Review Board, obtained by the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. “These officers should be the first responders to every call for service, and especially those involving deadly weapons where a rapid armed response is needed for life preservation.”
“We have seen no appreciable difference in criminal activity in either the River or Eastman Campuses,” Fischer added. “However, the average DPS response time from the [nearest police station] to River Campus is six minutes, which is more than triple the time when compared to an armed officer already assigned to the campus. For the Eastman Campus, there is a complete reliance on the Rochester Police Department for incidents involving a weapon.”…
“Students are raising concerns, as are faculty, and the University president, Richard Feldman, has responded by appointing a broad study group involving representatives of all stakeholders on behalf of our many students of color, whose fears I understand and find credible, and because I have a responsibility for advising the campus about potential risks to our future enrollment,” Burdick said.” The aftermath of an unjustifiable shooting (even if it’s a lawful shooting, and especially if it could be argued as a racially motivated) is a risk.”
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Comments
Campus security should be armed for their own protection.