To: President William P. Leahy, Vice President of Student Affairs Joy Moore, Executive Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police William B. Evans, Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley, and the broader Boston College community,

On June 3rd, Boston College President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. sent out an email stating that “The senseless death of George Floyd while in police custody has left millions in our country shaken, angry, and wondering how is it possible in our day that another black person in America could die in such circumstances.” The same day that President Leahy asked, “how we at Boston College, members of an academic and faith community, can and should respond to the inhumane, racist behavior so evident last week in Minneapolis,” the Boston College Police Department (BCPD) sent its officers to a protest held in response to police brutality and racist violence at Franklin Park.

Sending the BCPD to protests neither condemns police brutality nor protects students. The BCPD “are granted police authority from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which allows them the same authority and powers as local or state police in or upon the lands and structures owned, used, or occupied by the University” Additionally, the BCPD webpage states that “Boston College police officers have deputy sheriff powers for use in off-campus situations.” By continuing to fund the BCPD, Boston College contributes to the systemic racism that we have been protesting against.  

The U.S.’ history of police brutality continues to disproportionately put Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) in danger. Policing and incarceration have been used to and continue to oppress marginalized groups such as but not limited to BIPOC, people with disabilities, and immigrants. Policing from private universities has also perpetuated racist violence and endangered their students across the nation. Among the many bias-based instances of police misconduct across higher-education institutions, notable examples include a UChicago student being shot by campus police during a mental health crisis and a Georgia Tech student who identified as "bisexual, nonbinary, and intersex" being murdered by campus police.

Boston College as a predominately White institution has long been criticized for failing to protect its AHANA+ students or address racial-biased incidents on campus. Those incidents include the Black Live Matters sign being defaced in 2017 and the racist vandalism in residential halls in 2018. Students have also expressed concerns regarding Boston College’s inadequate response to students in mental health crises and lack of support to struggling students.

Universities across the nation have taken steps to address ongoing police brutality. Among them, the President of University of Minnesota announced the decision to cut major ties with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). In Massachusetts, Clark University also made the decision to sever its relationship with Worcester Police. In Maryland, Johns Hopkins University decided to halt their plan to create a private campus police department. Furthermore, students at Northwestern​, Georgetown​, Columbia​, Harvard, and other institutions have called for abolishing campus police departments and cutting ties with the local police, with a cross-campus petition attracting more than 2,700 signatures within the first few weeks.

We urge Boston College to follow the lead of these universities and be a model for other peer-institutions. As the director of Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board announced: "MPS cannot align itself with MPD and claim to fight institutional racism.” Similarly, it is impossible for Boston College to fight institutional racism while maintaining its tie to campus police. While "hearing from the victims of racism and inviting “individuals to speak about their experiences of racism, police misconduct, job and housing discrimination, healthcare inequities, and wealth disparity……" through The Boston College Forum on Racial Justice in America mentioned in President Leahy's letter on June 10th is a step forward in the right direction, it is not enough. Boston College, which is home to students of diverse backgrounds and identities, should aim to foster an environment in which everyone feels safe, regardless of their race and identities. Therefore, we demand that Boston College end all university ties with the police and abolish BCPD. Boston College should reinvestigate the funds to address the harm caused by police brutality and its institutional racism. 

We demand that Boston College:

1. Disarm, defund, and abolish the BCPD, and instead, train unarmed first-responders and ALL university staff, faculty, and administrative teams in crisis de-escalation, anti-bias intervention, and mental health first-aid training
2. End all contracts with local police, which includes patrolling student-organized protests, university-held events, sports events, or any on-campus activities
3. Fund institutional diversity & inclusion investigations, research, and strategic plans, and make the annual report public and transparent to the BC community
4. Protect students’ rights to protest and commit to not holding students accountable, subjecting them to the Student Conduct sanction, threatening loss of privilege, or suspending them from the institution for protesting
5. Investigate students’ experiences of police misconduct on campus, provide counseling and support services to those victim to police misconduct, offer support services instead of police or Student Conduct sanctions for students in mental health crises, and create a grievance complaints committee to students who suffer negative academic and/or disciplinary outcomes related to said police misconduct
6. Strengthen and continue to support University Counseling Services with diverse staff backgrounds, hold racial-trauma related support groups, panels, and trainings, increase access to services for underrepresented populations through initiatives such as same-day consultation and drop-in groups; collaborate with other campus support service departments to increase outreach to student organizations/students with various identities
7. Relocate funds to the offices and programs that support students and promote education equity, such as the Thea Bowman AHANA Intercultural Center, Options through Education, Learning to Learn, Montserrat Coalition, University Counseling Services, and Student Outreach and Support Services (which hosts LGBTQ+ support and Disability services)

Boston College is an institution that claims to foster “pursuit of a just society.” But in order to promote justice for all, we must defund the BCPD and take action to support our Black brothers and sisters. Please sign this petition if you agree with our proposal.

In solidarity.

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If you’d like to share your experience regarding specific BCPD misconduct and/or police misconduct in general, we invite you to fill out this google form: https://forms.gle/A5YGyz6PJhaNejcP9

(*Note, you can fill out the form anonymously and we will not use your experience publicly without your consent)

 

We also encourage you to email the administrative teams about your concerns regarding Boston College’s policing policy such as:

• President Father Leahy: 617-552-3250, william.leahy@bc.edu
• VP Student Affairs Joy Moore: 617-552-3280, joy.moore@bc.edu
• Associate VP, Spokesperson Jack Dunn: 617-552-3350, jack.dunn@bc.edu
• Chief of Police William Evans: 617-552-4445, william.evans@bc.edu
• Dean of Faculties David Quigley Provost: 617-552-3260, david.quigley@bc.edu