The black student association at Purdue University is demanding that the campus police department submit data and records to the campus diversity office on a monthly basis to determine department funding.
In a letter to the Purdue administration, the Purdue Black Student Union listed a series of demands it said were necessary to prevent the mistreatment of black students by the campus police department following a February incident between a white police officer and a black student who resisted arrest.
The letter is dated the day after a special prosecutor cleared the officer of wrongdoing and said the officer’s actions were “exactly [what] we expect our police officers to do” and that the officer “should be commended, not vilified.”
OVER 450 COLLEGES MAINTAIN SPEECH-POLICING BIAS RESPONSE TEAMS
In the letter, the Black Student Union said the officer had “aggressively accosted” the student and that the video of the incident “resurfaced years of trauma involving police brutality,” necessitating the group’s demands.
“While we have worked to communicate with [the] administration on this occurrence, the lack of transparency and communication has prompted us to publicize these demands on behalf of the student body,” the letter said. “This incident was unnecessary and displays the lack of effective and proficient de-escalation training.”
The group demanded that the university require campus police to complete a racial bias training that is “peer-reviewed and approved by the Racial Equity Institute and other experts on racial bias training to create a national standard for Racially Equitable Policing” and bring a social worker along for “all non-violent or domestic violence calls.”
But perhaps the most notable demand was that the campus police department “record and present all metrics on all interactions and engagements with student organizations and events to the Equity Task Force and the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging on a monthly basis to ensure that there are adequate levels of community engagement and relation building between the Purdue police department and a racially diverse and culturally inclusive population of Purdue University students faculty and staff.”
“These metrics shall be used as a factor in determining police department funding and officer compensation,” the letter added.
The group’s suggestion that funding should be withheld from campus police mimics the push from national leftist organizations, including Black Lives Matter, to defund all law enforcement. Like the Purdue Black Student Union, BLM has claimed police officers are a threat to minority communities.
Other demands in the letter included expanded availability of officer body camera footage and the formation of a “judiciary review board” of faculty, staff, and students to review instances of crimes committed on campus, including rape as well as “any discriminatory actions.” The letter did not detail what the purpose of the review would be.
Purdue University did not respond to a request for comment.
