The Demonstration Education and Safety Team, formed in early 2024, is a group of faculty who have volunteered “to protect free speech on campus by ensuring that all members of our University of Oregon community can express their views and ideas safely and within university policy,” according to a university email statement to The Daily Emerald.
The duties of DEST include providing UO’s free speech policies and requirements to demonstration organizers prior to events, observing protests, demonstrations and other events and ensuring UO policies are followed.
The team also responds to questions and complaints regarding ongoing demonstrations and events from campus and community members.
“It’s important to recognize that DEST is not an enforcement body – DEST members do not make decisions about student conduct or discipline for any member of the university community,” the statement said.
Another role of DEST is to educate demonstrators on their rights and responsibilities.
“We see this as an opportunity to share how participants can share their views and concerns, while recognizing that it may be interpreted as telling students what they cannot do,” the statement said.
According to UO Spokesperson Eric Howald, DEST did not wish to give names of their members.
“We are not providing a name to attribute these answers to because members of (DEST) have been singled out and harassed by protesters. While we understand that not everyone agrees with the role that DEST plays, the employees involved are performing university-assigned duties,” Howald said.
Robin Bailey, a member and organizer for UO Student Workers and Young Democratic Socialists of America, said they believed DEST is UO’s “intelligence arm” to monitor student demonstrations.
“(DEST) is UO’s intelligence arm by which it stalks, catalogues and serves as a direct tip line to UOPD, the conduct code office and other law enforcement,” Bailey said.
Bailey also said their photojournalism has been used as “weapons” against student organizers.
“I’ve seen several UOPD reports and conduct code charges which utilize my photojournalism, my photos, downloaded from my Instagram account as weapons against my fellow organizers, indicting them in chilling accusations of sound policy violation or disorderly conduct,” Bailey said.
Bailey expressed concern over their belief that DEST is used as a way to “watch” students.
“UO doesn’t like when its students dissent. Our university would rather us stay quiet, stay scared and stay meek little sitting ducks, so they watch us, so they have this ‘demo team,’ or whatever name they now go by, so we exist as organizers in this panopticon of a college campus,” Bailey said.
Eric Howanietz • May 28, 2025 at 7:31 pm
Totally outrageous. The Emerald is acting like the administration’s mouth piece. Didn’t the Emerald do a Google search on this? The Insurgent did a huge expose on the Demonstration Team showing how it was a network of informants funneling information to the police.