[October 2024 Update]:

This semester, AU has been hosting community forums and education sessions to collect feedback about arming AUPD. The ultimate decision maker, Jon Alger, has not been present at the forums to listen to community feedback. In addition to the report that the working group will be creating for the president and administration to decide on arming AUPD, this petition serves as an important notice that the community stands against any arming of AUPD. The school is considering 4 options - maintaining the status quo, expanding less-than-lethal weapons, deploying arms to AUPD vehicles, and arming all AU officers and security supervisors. AU must maintain the status quo! Safety concerns that students have been raising for the past year, such as sexual assault, racial profiling, mental health crises, and speech suppression, cannot be solved by arming AUPD with firearms or less-than-lethal weapons. 

Statistically, armed cops are more likely to cause harm than mediate crime. As a gun violence prevention organization, March for Our Lives supports all effective efforts to prevent active shooter situations and gun violence, but arming AUPD can only make those situations more likely. Any ability AUPD has to protect students will be erased if the school moves forward with changing its practice. 

[Original Text]:

On October 4th, 2023, American University sent an email alerting students of the administration's consideration to arm AUPD with guns. In the email, Chief Financial Officer Bronté Burleigh-Jones stated the university would “collect extensive community input” during the Fall semester and report their findings to the Board of Trustees in the Spring. At a town hall on December 4th, Burleigh-Jones stated that they have been exploring the question of arming campus police because the question was proposed by a board member, and they are still planning to gather student feedback during the Spring semester. 

Although most of the student body has yet to be asked for feedback, they will be most affected by this change if AU implements it. Given that there are allegations of racial discrimination by the AUPD, a history of failing to follow up with students on campus crimes, and a general lack of trust between AUPD and students, arming AUPD with lethal weapons would only serve to harm the community, especially BIPOC students and staff. 

Because of our campus’s low-crime location, proximity to the Department of Homeland Security and D.C. Police Department, and the lockdown safety plans already in place, students are well-protected from threats of violence. Arming AUPD would not make students safer and only increase the likelihood of gun violence on campus. 

Sign our petition to tell the administration that students do not support arming AUPD.

Supported by:

March for Our Lives - American University Chapter

Students for a Just Society 

Latinos en Acción

Middle East and North Africa Club

American University Palestine Solidarity Coalition (with the following members)

• American University Students for Justice in Palestine
• American University Sikh Students Association 
• American University Students for Change
• American University Ethiopian and Eritrean Student Association 
• American University African Student Organization 
• American University First Gen Student Union
• American University’s Native American/Indigenous Student Association 
• American University South Asian Student Association
• American University Law School Students for Justice in Palestine
• American University Muslim Students Association 
• American University Asian American Student Union
• American University Dissenters
• American University Hawaiʻi Club 
• American University League of United Latin American Citizens 
• Young Democratic Socialists of America at American University 
• Sunrise Movement at American University 
• Southeast Asia Student Network
• Muslim Professionals Association at American University 
• Middle East and North Africa Club at American University 
• Jewish Voice for Peace at American University 
• Indigenous Initiative at American University 
• American University Community Garden
• Brave Spaces at American University 
• American University Black Student Union
• March for Our Lives at AU
• AU Disabled Student Union 
• Italian Cultural Society at American University