From the President and ASCWU: Community Policing at CWU

Dear CWU Community,

Becoming a model learning community of equity and belonging means we come together to build a rich understanding of the complex issues facing our campus and society, to identify strengths in our approaches to those issues, and to examine areas of growth for our university. To model the way society should be organized, we do this work through deep care, collaboration, and inclusion.

Instance after instance of police violence, oppression, and murder targeting minoritized populations across the United States has created a robust national conversation about the role of law enforcement in society and on university campuses. CWU stands in solidarity with the movement to end police violence. As a university dedicated to the pursuit of higher learning, we believe in modeling the way our society should organize around equity-minded and trauma-informed practices to law enforcement.

That is why today we are announcing the formation of a richly diverse and broadly representative shared governance work group of students, faculty, and staff to assess the current best practices and opportunities for growth in assuring CWU is a model for community-based approaches to public safety. Next week, we will announce a call for nominations to serve on this work group. We will work with the shared governance leadership groups to identify representatives. The charge of the work group will be to develop a report on the strengths we employ to uphold equity-centered public safety policies and practices, and to identify potential areas of growth to further elevate the commitment our university police demonstrate to assure a care-centered approach to campus safety.

We appreciate the engagement of our campus community in raising ideas and opportunities to help CWU live our vision to become a model learning community of equity and belonging. We will always approach the needs, challenges, and opportunities expressed by our community with the care and attention they deserve.

Thank you,