The ad hoc Public Safety Proposal Advisory Committee’s report, as well as the Public Safety Review Board’s recommendations on Public Safety’s proposal to arm more officers, will be released publicly by the end of the week, according to President Feldman, either shortly before or at the same time as his decision.
The Review Board voted on their recommendation for the proposal on Tuesday. Feldman said he received their recommendation the following day.
His decision will take some days, Feldman said, because he will be in Washington D.C. the next few days and he wants enough time to consider and review facts and perspectives.
SA vice president and president-elect junior Jamal Holtz co-chaired the Advisory Committee. He said he wanted the Committee’s report to be released before the Review Board’s vote and still wants it released before Feldman’s decision.
“No matter the perception and the outcome and what folks’ decisions are on the proposal itself, […] I think that students should get the opportunity to view that feedback and the recommendation that we’re making to the PSRB and the president, prior to the decision,” Holtz said.
“[S]tudents also deserve the time to take our report and digest it, and go through it and learn the information and hear from different sides and perspectives,” he added.
Responding to criticisms — including that of the Campus Times — citing a lack of transparency surrounding the proposal, Feldman wrote in an email, “I believe I created an open process with the Ad Hoc Committee precisely to create transparency and to allow anyone who wished to do so to express an opinion about the DPS proposal.”
The proposal suggests two changes to DPS as it is now: that armed supervisors be allowed on campus in events other than emergencies, and that two armed officers be stationed at the River Campus and one armed officer at Eastman.
“Those who know me and who have worked with me know that I am, both by nature and by practice, collaborative and transparent,” Feldman wrote. “But in the end, I must make a decision, and will do so after careful consideration of all the information available to me.”
According to Feldman, the materials will be accessible on the Review Board’s website.
