SQE students demand disarming campus police as part of statewide campaign at Board of Trustees
Starting at 10:00 am on March 19th, members of the Students for Quality Education will be advocating for disarming campus police and security along their peers at the Board of Trustees meeting at the Office of the Chancellor in Long Beach, California as part of their “No Harm, Disarm!” campaign. The demand is one of many to address student safety on campus, which also includes working to create community-led crisis intervention and response teams, investing in more mental health counselors and supports, investing in Black resource centers and other cultural centers, mandatory de-escalation and unconscious bias training for all campus police and security, and more.
Members of the campus and local news media are invited to attend:
Board of Trustees meeting/March 19th at 10:00am
Office of the Chancellor/Long Beach
Office map with parking information: https://www2.calstate.edu/maps-and-directions-to-chancellors-office
Members of the Students for Quality Education will be at the meeting.
Following the meeting, SQE students will be available to speak to media and reporters.
BACKGROUND
We want ALL students to feel safe on our campus. Instead of funding more firearms and officers on our campuses, our CSU’s should be investing in proactive and preventative solutions, like more mental health counselors and cultural centers for students.
Regardless of how students react to police, campus police officers should undergo mandatory de-escalation and unconscious bias training to adequately deal with situations regarding all students. We recognize the over-policing of black and brown students and demand our CSU work with communities to explore alternatives to police and find solutions to police and student disparities. We want our schools to start adopting restorative justice practices to redefine what justice looks like in our communities, focusing less on punishment, and more on healing and repairing harm.
More information about our “No Harm, Disarm!” campaign and our demands can be found here: http://csusqe.org/noharmdisarm/
ABOUT STUDENTS FOR QUALITY EDUCATION (SQE): Students for Quality Education was formed in the 2007-2008 academic year by students in the California State University (CSU) system to build the student movement for educational rights in public higher education. They are assisted in their efforts by the California Faculty Association. For more information about SQE and information about chapters, go to http://csusqe.org.
For more information contact: ealcantar@calfac.org
