CALIFORNIA – Reportedly some students and staff within the University of
California staged a 1-day “virtual” walk-out earlier in May to further
promote their desire to abolish campus police from University of California.
This virtual walk out, which was virtual due to the fact that much of
the college’s operations are virtual due to the pandemic, was enabled
primarily by staff and also students that refused to do anything for a
single day since these folks apparently don’t like campus police.
Capital Public Radio reported the following about this effort that was
reportedly organized by a group called “Cops Off Campus Coalition”:
“At universities across California, students and workers refused to
attend class or meetings, answer emails and clock into work Monday as
part of a “day of refusal” organized by the group Cops Off Campus Coalition.
The work stoppage began Abolition May, a series of actions grounded in a
central demand: Remove police from all campuses.
Though the action was all-virtual due to the pandemic, 27 centers and
departments in University of California schools and over 1,100
individuals throughout the nation signed a pledge to participate in the
day of refusal.
The Cops Off Campus Coalition includes organizations in both the United
States and Canada and formed in the wake of last summer’s uprisings
against police violence following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna
Taylor and others. It has since been meeting regularly to prepare for
Abolition May.”
So apparently this report alleges that demonstrators that got involved
with this one day walk out did so because campus police at University of
California “has often undermined students’ perception of safety,” and
that a “continued police presence has re traumatized them from prior
experiences.”
Reportedly a “pledge” began to circulate between students and school
staff seeking a sort of hivemind participation in this protest against
campus police.
This “pledge” made some pretty brazen claims, one of which was that
campus police “has a history of using its police departments to
brutalize students and to surveil and assault activists.”
Some of the more alarmist-leaning rhetoric present within this pledge
that was circulated between faculty and students were claims that
“repression, racial profiling, brutality, and violence,” are
“fundamental characteristics of policing, inherent to its design.”
It is without surprise that this movement to abolish campus police at
the various UC campuses in California wound up picking up steam right
after the explosion of the black lives matter movement in 2020.
Ironically, a survey that was released from UC Berkeley back in 2019
showed that students on campus were relatively supportive of police
being on campus.
According to the survey, 84% of surveyed students agreed that campus
police dealt with them “honestly and ethically,” 76% agreed that they
“show concern for people’s rights,” with 75% saying that campus police
“can be trusted to have my best interest in mind.”
Going back to a 2014 survey conducted by UC Berkeley, only 2.5% of
students proclaimed to experience any “exclusionary conduct,” by campus
police.
Students and staff stage 'virtual' walkout to demand that their campus
abolish the police
LAWENFORCEMENTTODAY.COM
Students and staff stage 'virtual' walkout to demand that their campus
abolish the police
Students and staff at the University of Ca