Recently, I was introduced to a fine Oregon tradition: speaking at an outdoor forum at the EMU Amphitheater. I had corresponded with ASUO on the subject of students’ rights in regard to partying off-campus, and they graciously invited me to speak. I shared the dais with members of the Eugene Police Department and the Department of Public Safety, as well as legal advisers from the University. It was a positive experience for me and most of the students who attended.
As I spoke, I looked at the faces of the participants. In the students’ faces I saw a desire to learn more of the constitutional protections that we all share, and on the faces of my brothers and sisters in the law enforcement community, I saw looks of boredom at having to be there and looks of disdain for me that I would take the students’ side in this conflict with the law. After the presentation, I spoke with leaders of ASUO, who are as determined as I to ease the conflict. I think ASUO agrees with me on the need to inform, but
I may be standing alone by insisting that empowerment goes along
with knowledge.
With a solid grasp of both concepts, the students could then begin to exercise their duty as citizens, observing and reporting the actions of law enforcement to their city and University leaders. Such observations are the necessary prelude to change. Public safety is a two-way street. The citizenry can’t be safe if their police don’t follow the rules as set down by the city and by the courts, and the police can’t do their jobs in the face of noncooperation by the citizens.
In the present atmosphere of us versus them, all students and all citizens of Eugene are getting poor protection. Resources are expended on preventative patrols that haven’t changed the behavior of either the students or the more dangerous anarchists one whit. The rest of the city has to get by with little or no police service while these harassing patrols are in use.
I think that if the students and residents of the West University neighborhood organize and learn what their rights are and what powers they have, they will clearly see their duty to cease putting their part of the city at risk, and they will be able to effectively give EPD and DPS the constructive criticism they badly need. By that time, the EPD and DPS leadership will have shown themselves either amenable to policy change, or in need of personnel change.
George Schneider works in law enforcement and lives in Portland.