On Oct 20, students gathered in Ernst for a special SGA meeting to discuss the incidents of last Saturday night and the criticisms surrounding the responses of New London police and Campus Safety. The extensive dialogue between students, administrators and local law enforcement officials clearly demonstrated the strong concerns surrounding the capacity of law enforcement to keep students safe. Many students expressed frustration surrounding their lack of understanding of the events that transpired and how such events would influence local and campus policies. As Brett A. Sokolow, an investigator currently leading an external investigation of the incident explained, there is a wealth of information that cannot be shared because the events are under active investigation. Sokolow, the President and CEO of The NCHERM Group, will provide a comprehensive report about the incident through interviews with over a dozen students, staff, administrators and officers who observed or were involved in the events of Saturday night. However, although local police and campus officials are unable to supply certain pieces of information at the moment, we must assess the current policies of local police and Campus Safety to analyze how such policies may be improved to better support students at Connecticut College and within the local community.
When discussing the policies in place to intervene and support students in crisis situations, Dean of Students Victor Arcelus explained that officers on campus safety receive training every year with title IX coordinator Melissa Pierce, as well as with Darcie Folsom and Dean Cardwell, to discuss responses to incidents, Title IX and the conduct process. Many members in the area of Student Life including Cardwell and Arcelus additionally serve on a team of staff on call throughout the year in order to provide support for students after hours.
Dean Arcelus also emphasized the frequency with which policy and procedure is reviewed as the needs of the campus community evolve. This past year, all Campus Safety officers went through comprehensive training with Dean of Institutional Equity and Inclusion John McKnight. Several of these officers also attended a training held in the beginning of the year with student staff from the Office of Residential Education and Living and other student leaders, where they had the opportunity to meet members of the diversity team and hear brief presentations from individuals, including LGBTQIA Center director Erin Duran and title IX coordinator Melissa Pierce.
Although such trainings certainly represent a good first step toward strengthening communication between Campus Safety officers, Arcelus emphasized his and Dean McKnight’s continual engagement in rigorous discussion to improve dialogue between Campus Safety officers and students. These changes are partially a result of the change in Campus Safety’s position under the Office of Student life: prior to last Spring, Campus Safety reported to the Office of the President, whereas it now reports primarily to Deans Cardwell and Arcelus in the Office of Student Life. Ideally, such a change will allow administrators in The Office of Student Life to engage with members of Campus Safety in a manner that better fosters communication between students and officers and supports students’ personal education and growth at the College. However, it became increasingly evident through recent SGA meetings and student discussions that critical steps remain to restore the broken connection between students and officers.
Discussing underlying tensions between Campus Safety and students, Arcelus specifically highlighted the importance of fostering connections between officers and students that go beyond interacting during high risk incidents. Arcelus explained that he met one-on-one with every Campus Safety officer to discuss their careers prior to Conn, as well as their experience within Campus Safety. These conversations allow Arcelus to gain insight on the strengths and challenges of current Campus Safety policies and procedures and to better understand how officers’ experiences and perspectives inform their work on campus. “I would love for students to get to know who the officers are as people and for officers to really get to know the students as well,” Arcelus said. “That way when there are incidents, there is a mutual level of understanding and respect between students and officers.”
Arcelus specifically described his observations of Campus Safety at one college he visited: officers served as liaisons to particular residence halls or houses and developed relationships with students in these buildings. Within this setting, officers would often host programming and address student safety concerns in the house. Before the Office of Residential Education and Living was able to hire floor governor at Conn, Campus Safety officers would often spend more time walking through residence halls and would engage in casual conversations with students. Since the role of Campus safety has evolved on campus, officers should be incentivized and encouraged to engage with students in other spaces and capacities.
At the Oct 20 SGA meeting, many students, including Plant Housefellow Amanda Chugg ‘18, expressed frustration over the divide between local and campus officers and Connecticut College students and the apparent lack of transparency surrounding local police policy. Chugg highlighted the enrollment in two weeks of training preceding the semester for learning about policy, intervention and student support that is requisite for students working in the Office of Residential Education and Living. “Considering the extensive amount of training we receive as student staff,” she said, “how can we feel safe inviting officers back on campus to deal with these issues? Students are trained with an understanding that policy is a constant.” Chugg is certainly not alone in these sentiments — many other students at the meeting addressed similar frustration and the need for dialogue regarding the policies in place to keep members of the campus community safe in light of the recent investigation.
In response to these long withstanding student and administrative concerns, Arcelus explained that the College has been participating in an external review of the College’s emergency operations since July, a process which includes significant examination of the role and function of Campus Safety. Through this process, the department has been collecting documents, materials and reports for the external review team, which meets next week. As part of this process, three Directors of Campus Safety at other colleges will come to Conn to begin a comprehensive study of campus safety. Arcelus explained that the individual who conducted the external review in the summer will assist with the external review next week. “We’re trying to connect former work with a comprehensive plan for campus safety broadly,” Arcelus said, “where we will be asking questions including, ‘What is the role of campus safety on campus? What are recommendations from external review to enhance campus safety’s engagement with students? And, how do we maximize campus safety’s execution of their work?’” The Office of Student Life and Campus Safety hope to gain guidance and recommendations regarding supervision, training and everyday operations on campus through this process. Arcelus added that Waterford and New London Police are both participating in the external review of campus safety, highlighting the role of both departments as our campus sits between both areas.
This collaboration between the local and campus officers is particularly important in considering the unique aspects of campus culture that foster community and hold students accountable. As Arcelus said, “It’s really important for us to understand the protocols of the [Police Departments’] work, and for the departments to understand key parts of our campus culture that affect how students engage with one another and campus safety.” Bystander intervention, for example, serves as a critical way in which students are trained to support others in potentially high risk situation. In light of recent events, however, several students at the most recent SGA meeting expressed concern that in a situation with Campus Safety or local officers, student intervention would not be a functionally safe or effective course of action. Folsom addressed and affirmed these concerns at SGA, noting that personal safety remained at the core of Bystander Intervention. “This is at the forefront of my mind, and I am constantly thinking about how we can continue thinking about the different options for intervention in light of these events,” she said.
Officer accountability and representation were also prevalent concerns amongst the student contributions offered at the meeting. Michelle Lee ‘18, along with several other female students, expressed concerns to Campus Safety Director Stewart Smith surrounding the lack of female officers on-call to address instances of domestic violence and sexual assault. In this discussion, Smith admitted that although the three most recent campus safety hires have been two women and one man of color, significant work must be done to improve diverse representation amongst the Campus Safety officers. Several students expressed particular frustration about the number and demographics of officers who responded to last week’s call; these students advocated for policies which will ensure that the number and representation of officers strongly considered in future situations.
As conversations between students, Campus Safety officers, local police and campus administrators continue, students may learn of several complications that hinder appropriate responses to similar domestic violence incidents. As was highlighted at the SGA meeting, if New London Police are brought to campus by a 911 call, Campus Safety loses all jurisdiction in the situation and serves only to assist the police and function underneath their leadership. Partially in response to this discussion, students engaged in dialogue with Chief Administrative Officer of New London Police Steve Fields about the future implementation of body cameras to ensure officers’ accountability. Fields highlighted that in our current era, such devices are sadly necessary, but are also extremely expensive to acquire and implement. Following several pointed student questions, Fields was not able to give a specific timeline for the implementation of these devices but stressed they would be implemented as soon as possible.
Accountability concerns were also explicitly discussed during The College Voice’s meeting with Dean Arcelus. “In the handbook,” he explained, “we have expectations that all staff must abide by. Whenever there is a student complaint, we follow up with interviews with officers and ultimately determine whether follow-up is necessary. That follow-up may include training, additional supervision and in some cases may have employment implications. Every complaint has follow-up but we can’t necessarily turn around and share the outcome of these investigations with students.” This dynamic leads many students to believe that situations are not being handled by the administration, when in reality, they may be handled confidentially. As the College continues in their external review, significant time will likely be dedicated to analyzing the assessment and conduct processes used when evaluating Campus Safety officers.
In discussing the importance of collaboration between local police departments and Connecticut College, several students offered comments which suggested individuals at the College may be entitled to treatment from police that differ from members of the New London community. Specifically, some students at the meeting asked whether Campus Safety could hold special jurisdiction even once local police arrive on the scene, a request which clearly violates local and state policy. While it is certainly important for the local police to have a comprehensive understanding of how Conn as a campus functions, rhetoric that implies predominantly white college students merit differential treatment is problematic, particularly when analyzed in the context of the current national climate surrounding Black Lives Matter and police brutality. As a campus, therefore, we must continue to advocate for policies that support the livelihood of all members of the local community. The effects of police brutality far transcend any specific incidents on our campus.•
