ASUO President Jay Breslow said the Department of Public Safety’s decision to give officers more police authority will hurt students and the campus climate more than help them.
“That was the completely wrong decision,” Breslow said. “There’s nothing we can do.”
DPS director Tom Fitzpatrick announced Tuesday the department will commission as many as 11 officers, who will undergo extra training. With the training, they will gain the extra responsibility of probable-cause arrest and stop-and-search rights.
Fitzpatrick said DPS officers will be better equipped to respond to campus thefts and other crimes that generally rank low on the Eugene Police Department’s priority list and allow those cases to be tried in city court instead of through student conduct channels.
Breslow said he hasn’t fully reviewed the new DPS policy and wouldn’t comment on whether he approves or is against the specifics of the commissioning.
But the ASUO president said plenty of things about the decision still anger him, namely Fitzpatrick’s decision not to ask for input from students before announcing the commissioning plan.
“It’s a violation of campus democracy,” he said. “It directly affects the student body.”
Breslow compared Fitzpatrick’s decision to last spring’s protest for University inclusion in the Worker Rights Consortium. Breslow was one of 14 students arrested during 10 days of peaceful protesting outside Johnson Hall.
Although the two situations are different, Breslow said the underlying issue of student voice on campus is the same.
Despite the protests, University President Dave Frohnmayer signed a contract with the WRC only after the University Senate and other faculty groups made recommendations.
Fitzpatrick said he didn’t think extra student input was necessary for him to continue with the process.
“I think it was viewed as an administrative decision,” he said. “It wasn’t a new situation.”
But students will have a chance to voice their opinions on the issue. Fitzpatrick will create an 11-person advisory committee sometime in February that will have student representation. This committee will offer suggestions to the department as it moves toward commissioning.
Breslow said the committee will help with future DPS problems, but the effort comes too late.
“Giving students a voice afterwards isn’t exactly campus democracy,” he said.
But not all students are angry about the decision or how Fitzpatrick made it. Jed McGuire, co-chairman for College Democrats, said that after conversations with DPS officers, he believes the officers are ready for the extra responsibility.
“They’ve always been ready,” McGuire said. “They were picked because they were qualified to do the job.”
He added the decision will help save the University money because fewer University-contracted EPD officers will be needed for lesser crimes such as bike theft and residence hall break-ins.
“Also, it’s good for [those cases] to go through local courts rather than student conduct,” he said.
But Breslow said he was worried when he first heard the announcement and continues to worry what specific rights the commissioned officers will have. He also said the ASUO Executive is examining what exactly constitutes probable-cause arrest.
When they have more information, Breslow said, ASUO members will organize informational campaigns to educate students on their rights and the new rights of DPS officers.
But he added that he hopes DPS will take some of the educational responsibility as well.
“They made the decision. Now get out there and educate the campus community,” he said.