Spring Break
Students meet with Reinharz, submit anti-arming petition
by Ariel Wittenberg
News | 10/23/07
Posted online at 9:45 PM EST on 10/22/07
/ Last updated at 3:53 AM EST on 10/22/07
A group of 23 students voiced concerns about University President Jehuda Reinharz's decision to arm campus police at his office hours last Thursday afternoon, protesting the decision itself and the manner in which it was made.
The initiative was taken by a new campus organization: Students Opposed to the Decision to Arm. The students brought Reinharz a petition signed by 830 undergraduates, 16 staff and 20 faculty members.
A clear policy has not been created yet. In an e-mail to the Justice, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan wrote, "The University will be forming a Firearms policy group to assist me as new policies are drafted."
Reinharz chose to arm the officers last month after a firearms advistory committee of students, staff and faculty, which met over the summer, made that recommendation. SODA founder Ben Serby '10 said, however, that Reinharz should have consulted many more students and faculty members before making his decision.
"The burden of proof is on you, and any decision pro or con arming has to be thought out and discussed in the larger community; it just has to," Serby said to the president.
Reinharz disagreed, explaining that any decision involving the safety of students is an administrative decision that he has the authority to make unilaterally.
"I could have come to this decision without a committee," he responded. "But I decided to have a committee, and it did not make sense to me to waste a single moment once I had their recommendation, which was a unanimous one."
Members of SODA are also upset that just two students, Student Union Treasurer Choon Woo Ha '08 and Union Vice President Alex Braver '09, served on the firearms committee.
"His idea that this was a representational panel is ridiculous," Sahar Massachi '11, another SODA member, said in an interview following Reinharz's officer hours. "That's just like taking two men off the street, asking them a question and extrapolating that for the whole population. That would fail you in the most basic fourth grade statistics class."
The initiative was taken by a new campus organization: Students Opposed to the Decision to Arm. The students brought Reinharz a petition signed by 830 undergraduates, 16 staff and 20 faculty members.
A clear policy has not been created yet. In an e-mail to the Justice, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan wrote, "The University will be forming a Firearms policy group to assist me as new policies are drafted."
Reinharz chose to arm the officers last month after a firearms advistory committee of students, staff and faculty, which met over the summer, made that recommendation. SODA founder Ben Serby '10 said, however, that Reinharz should have consulted many more students and faculty members before making his decision.
"The burden of proof is on you, and any decision pro or con arming has to be thought out and discussed in the larger community; it just has to," Serby said to the president.
Reinharz disagreed, explaining that any decision involving the safety of students is an administrative decision that he has the authority to make unilaterally.
"I could have come to this decision without a committee," he responded. "But I decided to have a committee, and it did not make sense to me to waste a single moment once I had their recommendation, which was a unanimous one."
Members of SODA are also upset that just two students, Student Union Treasurer Choon Woo Ha '08 and Union Vice President Alex Braver '09, served on the firearms committee.
"His idea that this was a representational panel is ridiculous," Sahar Massachi '11, another SODA member, said in an interview following Reinharz's officer hours. "That's just like taking two men off the street, asking them a question and extrapolating that for the whole population. That would fail you in the most basic fourth grade statistics class."
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