In wake of recent protests and the blatant use of excessive force by Philadelphia Police towards Temple students, Temple University cut ties with the Philadelphia Police Department and stopped any donations as well. Temple however has a larger issue within its own police force. Temple University is home to one of the largest campus police forces, with over 130 officers employed. This police force continues to work on and off campus, with the off-campus portion already over policed by the Philadelphia Police themselves. 

Aside from any issue with where the Temple Police work, they are also severely overfunded. Temple University's 2019-20 budget allotted over $27 million dollars just to "Campus Safety", a higher budget than the College of Education, College of Engineering, Klein College of Media and Communication, School of Pharmacy, School of Podiatric Medicine, School of Tourism and Hospitality, and the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. A Temple Campus police officer makes a whopping $51.80 an hour, and a Campus Security Officer makes $34.37 an hour, while the school continuously fails to pay their TA's and student workers a livable wage.

Lastly, Temple University preaches safety on campus to their new, incoming students, yet they fail to take students complaints and needs seriously. In a more personal story, I was robbed on campus in the 2019-2020 school year and when I was with the police, a security officer said to me "This is what they (meaning African-Americans) do" and "Well maybe if they had both a mom and a dad at home, this would stop happening". I found this behavior blatantly racist and filed a complaint, and Temple University and their police force did not contact me for further info, or even bother to contact me at all. 

The Temple University Police Force does not need or deserve $27 Million dollars when they don't actually work for the safety of their students, and work day by day with racial prejudices in their minds in an extremely diverse area. Temple needs to take student complaints seriously, and take funding from their police force and apply it to social justice reform, as well as spread out the remaining funds to underfunded colleges on campus, and the vastly underfunded mental heath facilities.