The Justice

Catherine McConnell '10, ARC liaison to the Student Peace Alliance, said that as a group, the ARC feels the decision was made without sufficient community involvement. She explained that members in ARC groups have varying opinions on arming, so the center won't take an official stance.

ARC is going to put together an informational forum because it wants to educate the campus and present all sides of the issue.

Sarah Freeman '09 said that the Brandeis community should have been involved in important decisions like this one, but that students may feel more comfortable on campus if police officers carry guns. Freeman added that police officers should only draw their weapons in very extreme cases.

David Zucker '09, a training officer for the Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps, said University Brandeis police needed to be armed because, "You never know what is going to happen" in terms of violence on campus, and that the philosophy of the police is to be prepared, for any type of situation.

BEMCo crew member, Rostic Gorbatov '09, cited another school shooting, which took place at Delaware State University Friday morning and left a female student in serious condition and a male in stable condition, in his argument for the need to arm officers. Gorbatov explained that it is safer to have immediate force always available because dangerous situations like these are always possible.

Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 said that she personally disagrees with having guns on campus, but she respects and understands the University's decision to arm officers.

"It is irresponsible to rule out that anything could happen anywhere at any time, and as a university, it seems only adequate or natural that they would want to do the best they can to ensure the safety of the students," Sinha said.

Joshua Manning '09 said that police officers carrying guns around campus may make people feel uncomfortable, but that the intimidation factor is a necessary tradeoff.

Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan told the Justice in March 2006 that he thought arming the police officers was unnecessary. However, the final report of the advisory committee discussed that the incident at Virginia Tech "has changed the context of these deliberations."

"We'd prefer not to have any weapons anywhere, but looking at Virginia Tech and other things that have happened, it seems as though this is the right thing to do," Prof. Marya Levenson, director of the education program and a member of the advisory committee, said in a telephone interview.

Levenson added that the committee was also concerned that it takes the Waltham Police Department two to five minutes to respond to emergency calls, and that they don't know their way around Brandeis as well as the campus officers.

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