Hunter
02/17/21
The University of Iowa’s Reimaging Campus Safety Action Committee is currently considering three different models as they discuss how to update the school’s approach to campus safety.
The Daily Iowan reports that UI Vice President for Student Life Sarah Hansen is the chair of the committee. She said they’re compiling input from two town hall meetings earlier this month and other avenues to present a recommendation to UI President Bruce Harreld in about a month.
The group is looking at three different approaches.
One focuses on recruiting a diverse campus police force and training them intensely on anti-racism and implicit bias.
The second model is a little more dramatic. It would minimize University of Iowa Police Department presence on campus and divert service calls to other area professionals like crisis and health care workers.
The third would include an oversight committee to hold police accountable for their actions, and look at past incidents to make recommendations to campus law enforcement. A member of the president’s cabinet would oversee the committee.
Hansen tells the DI that the recommendation to Harreld could combine any number of approaches by the time it reaches his desk.