Bill to Make Private College Police Records Public Officials Disagree On
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NEWS MUSE SPORTS Boston crime has decreased since Documentary director Douglas Tirola Women’s Hockey gears up for last year. discusses tasteless nature of National non-conference tilt with Clarkson. p. 2 Lampoon. p. 10 p. 5 44°/62° DAILYFREEPRESS.COM CLEAR (FORECAST.IO) @DAILYFREEPRESS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2015 THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY YEAR XLIV. VOLUME XC. ISSUE VII. BU lacks stance on trigger warnings, gives professors personal discretion BY PAIGE SMITH DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF Despite several universities across the country forgoing the use of trigger warnings on campus, Boston University holds no official stance of ordinance governing the use of trig- ger warnings in academic settings. Administrators at both American Uni- versity and Cornell University have spoken out against trig-ger warnings, with American cit- PHOTO BY PAIGE TWOMBLY/DAILY FREE PRESS CONTRIBUTOR ing freedom of speech as its defense. A bill seeking to make private college police records public is in a committee in the Massachusetts State Legislature. Boston Univer- “The Faculty Senate does not endorse of- sity students currently have to go to the Boston University Police Department and have the records read to them because they do fering ‘trigger warnings’ or otherwise labeling not exist online. controver-sial material in such a way that stu- dents construe it as an option to ‘opt out’ of Bill to make private college police records public engaging with texts or concepts, or otherwise not participating in intellectual inquiries,” the BY CAROLYN HOFFMAN state police officer of a college, university or College, Harvard University Police Depart- AU Faculty Senate wrote in a statement. “… DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF other educational institution shall be public ment, and HUPD Chief Francis Riley in 2003 the Faculty Senate affirms that shielding stu- records,” the bill states. “Such public records “seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to dents from controversial material will deter A bill in the Massachusetts State Leg- shall be kept and maintained in the custody of compel HUPD to disclose its records,” a mem- them from becoming critical thinkers and re- islature seeks to make private college police the law enforcement unit of such college, uni- orandum stated. sponsible citizens.” departments operate similarly to city depart- versity, or other educational institution.” “Harvard maintains that it is a private However, BU’s view on trigger warnings ments by making records publically available, The Commonwealth defines public re- institution and, therefore, the records of its is far more subjective. BU spokesman Colin which could have implications for university cords as “every record” by a government entity campus police are not subject to the [Massa- Riley said this issue should be addressed in a and student reputations alike. or its employees “unless a specific statutory ex- chusetts] Public Records Law,” the memoran- course syllabus if a faculty member decides to Massachusetts Rep. Kevin Honan, who emption permits or requires it to be withheld dum stated. “It appears to this court that the do so on their own. proposed the bill on Jan. 20 with Massachu- in whole or in part.” public importance of disclosing police records “BU is comprised of 17 schools and col- setts Reps. Patricia Jehlen and Paul Donato, The bill currently stands with the Joint is just as high when the police officers at issue leges and individual faculty members set the has petitioned for certain law enforcement re- Committee on State Administration and Reg- are authorized to perform and often do per- course framework, policies and expectations cords to be designated as public records. ulatory Oversight. form the same functions as the state and local for their classes,” Riley said in an email. “All records, reports or other documen- This public records issue has a history in police officers.” Though BU’s Faculty Handbook does not tary materials or data made or received for Boston, as The Harvard Crimson filed a suit The Crimson lost the case, yet over a explicitly address trigger warnings, it upholds the purpose of law enforcement by a special against the president and fellows of Harvard CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 the prin-ciple of freedom of speech while still allowing professors to independently decide a class’s stance on trigger warnings. Officials disagree on impact of sexual assault bill “Academic freedom is essential in institu- tions of higher education if they are to make BY SYDNEY FOY said. “The goal is to make [campuses] a safer who draw from federal financial aid to disclose their proper contribution to the common DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF place and to change the culture of rape on our crime data. Bouvier said, however, that with good,” the handbook reads. “The common campuses. I don’t think that is going to hap- this legislation, she would like to make the re- good depends upon the free search for truth New legislation recently brought up at pen all of a sudden, but I think we need to take cords and data of Massachusetts’ schools more and its free exposition. It is that which justifies the Massachusetts State House by Rep. Tricia bold actions to ensure that all of our campuses consumer-friendly than the Clery Act did. academic freedom, not the interest of the indi- Farley-Bouvier would provide more guidance are safe.” “You wouldn’t really have a good sense vidual faculty member or even the interest of a and preventive regulations to combat sexual One of the initiatives included provisions about how safe your school is or not [based on particular university.” assault on college campuses. Boston Universi- to make campus sexual assault data more read- statistics from the Clery Act]. It would be too Trigger warnings are not designed to take ty has already conformed to some of the pro- ily accessible, similar to how the 1990 federal hard to tell because the data is sort of isolat- away from sensitive conversation, but rather to posed regulations, but would require several Clery Act required colleges and universities CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 invite it, BU Student Government’s Vice Pres- changes in order to be fully compliant if the ident of Internal Affairs Marwa Sayed said. bill passes. “It seems trigger warnings have been Several proposed policies in the bill that misrepresented as a mechanism by which to BU would have to implement include an email censor content or to block out a conversa- that would be sent to students once every se- tion,” she said, “but usually the conversation is mester as a reminder of current sexual assault about sexual assault, an issue on our campus, policies, a Threat Response Program and the so of course we’re going to have a conversation establishment of a memorandum of under- about that, but to make peo-ple who might be standing between the BU Sexual Assault Re- affected by that topic aware that the topic may sponse and Prevention Center and the Boston be discussed, so they can prepare themselves University Police Department. mentally, physically, in whatever way they need Bouvier said the bill has an “excellent to.” chance” of passing once it has passed the com- Sayed also said that while there is no offi- mittee. She said a committee hearing of the cial policy currently in the works with the SG bill had been done in June and will require a Executive Board, she would not be surprised if committee voting before it is taken to the there are conversations about trigger warnings floor of the House. fairly soon. “The leadership in the Senate and the “There are, of course, concerns from stu- House care completely about these issues and GRAPHIC BY SARAH SILBIGER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF dents themselves who talk about this issue a want to take some action to ensure the safety A bill is in the Massachusetts State Legislature that would require more guidelines for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 of college students in Massachusetts,” Bouvier sexual assault prevention and response on college campuses. 2 NEWS Violent crime in Boston on decline since 2014 CAMPUS BY MAISIE GUZI DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF CRIME LOGS BY KENNEDY DAVIS DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF Despite recent stabbings in the Boston Common and Roxbury, there has been a 10 percent decrease in Part One major crimes in The following reports were taken from the Boston since last year, reflecting the success Boston University Police Department from of recent prevention efforts, according to the Oct. 8 to 12. Boston Police Department. Part One crimes include acts of violence Five males placed under ar- such as homicide, rape, assault, robbery and rest for posession of alcohol arson, according to the Federal Bureau of In- vestigation’s guidelines for uniform crime re- On Oct. 8 at 12:29 a.m., BUPD porting. officers caught two underage male BPD is focusing on reducing the number students and three underage male of guns on the streets and boosting commu- non-affiliates drinking and playing nity relations in order to decrease crime, said loud music in the rear alley at 115 Officer Rachel McGuire, a spokeswoman for Bay State Rd. All five were placed the department. Violent incidents are always a under arrest for minor in posses- concern to the department, she said. PHOTO BY ALEXANDRA WIMLEY/DFP FILE PHOTO sion. One was also issued a civil “We’re always concerned about crime, Despite recent stabbings last week, major crimes in Boston have decreased since 2014. citation for less than one ounce of but crime is down thanks to our addressing marijuana. issues that do come up and I think that we’ve over there,” McGuire said. “Wherever we see crime rate in the city.