Students gathered on the quad to attend a rally organized by March For Our Lives AU to protest the potential arming of the American University Police Department on Oct. 17.
The University announced last fall it was considering arming AUPD following a shooting at Morgan State University. The Security Review Working Group will complete its work soon as the University has now said it looks to reach a decision on whether to arm AUPD by the end of the semester.
March For Our Lives AU is a local chapter of the national organization March For Our Lives, a group dedicated to ending gun violence.
Joey Katzenell, a junior in the School of Public Affairs and the events chair at MFOL AU, said arming AUPD is a gun violence issue.
“Adding guns to our campus only makes gun violence more likely, even though they said that they are considering it because of incidents of gun violence on other campuses,” Katzenell said. “But we know that from those stories, that arming AUPD wouldn't prevent gun violence.”
Despite the campus-wide shelter-in-place that was enacted on Oct. 14, protestors agreed arming AUPD would still not be the correct response to fear of gun violence on campus. Katzenell said they understand that some people think better protection for AUPD means better protection for students, but they disagreed.
“On Monday, there was no firearm in the actual incident,” Katzenell said. “If an officer confronted that individual with [their own] firearm, there could have been shots fired. So adding guns to the mix can only make that worse.”
Many students at the protest raised concerns about the safety of students of color if AUPD is armed. Others demanded better training and responses in the instance of shelter-in-place actions.
Speakers also pointed to the arming of the George Washington University Police Department, a process that has recently been reported as “riddled with safety violations that went undisclosed to the community.” In the wake of the controversy, the chief of GWPD has resigned over undisclosed gun safety violations.
Protestors moved their rally from the quad to its perimeter, marching in front of Hurst Hall, Kerwin Hall, Kogod School of Business and the Batelle-Tompkins Building. As they walked, protestors continued to chant their demands.
“No more silence: end gun violence,” protestors demanded.
In the recent AU Student Government election, 80.17 percent voted “no” to arming AUPD with sidearms, 70.57 percent voted “no” to arming AUPD with firearms in squad cars and 58.67 percent voted “no” for arming AUPD with less-than-lethal weapons such as tasers and rubber bullets.
Despite this, Katzenell said they understood the instinct to want to arm AUPD.
“We are a gun violence generation. We've survived mass shootings. Almost everyone I know has gone through at least some sort of false alarm scare, and that can be traumatizing,” Katzenell said.
In a comment to The Eagle, Elizabeth Deal, assistant vice president and deputy chief communications officer, said the University’s “security review process is in the education and community engagement phase.”
“We are actively soliciting and gauging the input and concerns of the community as well as we seek to ensure for the best possible safety and security outcomes for our community,” Deal wrote. “With this engagement, significant consideration needs to be given to the range of options available to the American University Police Department (AUPD) officers to help strengthen their ability to respond to situations as we consider the various options available to us.”
While Katzenell said they empathize with those who agree with arming AUPD, they encouraged individuals to look deeper into the issue.
“Listen to what other students are saying,” Katzenell said. “Listen to why students are scared. And read the facts on how police with guns cause more deaths.”
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks. Fact checking done by Luna Jinks and Hannah Paisley Zoulek.
