Oregon State University will establish an in-house police department beginning July 1, the result of a unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees at its April 3 meeting.
The decision was informed by four community listening sessions in March and from work by the university’s Public Safety Advisory Committee. Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Charlene Alexander co-chaired the committee with Senior Associate Vice President for Administration Paul Odenthal.
The Office of Institutional Diversity led these sessions, both to gather input and to guide a larger conversation around the university’s values of being a welcoming, inclusive and safe community.
“Our hope was that the framework would be an educational tool to help people see all the numerous and nuanced dimensions of public safety,” says Jeff Kenney, OID director of institutional education for diversity, equity and inclusion. “This is producing insights into the values, expectations and aspirations of the community.”
About 60 to 80 people attended the four sessions. Kenney led off with context about the history of public safety at Oregon State and public safety issues on campuses nationwide. Attendees then spent an hour in guided discussions in randomly assigned small groups with a facilitator and a notetaker.
Documenting the discussions helped the committee identify factors most relevant to students, faculty and staff, as well as areas of conflict. Although an analysis is ongoing, Kenney says the process allowed for conflicting viewpoints to be acknowledged productively.
For example, in one group, the presence of uniformed police officers was highly unsettling for some but reassuring for others. Attendees also mentioned negative encounters they’ve witnessed between police and students of color or LGBTQ students.
Kenney identifies hiring and training as priorities moving forward. There is a desire for more gender, racial and ethnic diversity among new hires, with training to include working with trauma survivors, de-escalation techniques and community policing.
“There’s a desire for a relationship with public safety personnel that is caring, compassionate and humanistic,” Kenney says. “We’re also seeing a desire for increased transparency in public safety administration and greater community engagement.”
The Office of Institutional Diversity already works with the Oregon State Department of Public Safety, which is separate from a licensed, armed law enforcement agency like the new university police department. OID facilitated six hours of training for all DPS staff covering power, privilege and oppression and how those issues connect to experiences marginalized groups have with public safety personnel. The training also covered implicit bias and different ways officers can respond to bias incidents on campus.
Kenney hopes to continue regular conversations between OID and the university’s public safety professionals.
“OID is excited to not only continue that existing level of training but respond to any additional training requests that might come as a result of this process,” he says. “We are ready to provide as much of an educational experience as they desire.”