VT student senate proposes task force to 'fully abolish the campus police'
A graduate student senate at Virginia Tech University recently announced a resolution to defund and then abolish the school's police department by means of a task force.
One VT student told 'Campus Reform' that he opposes the resolution due to the many services campus police provide, including 'self-defense courses targeted towards sexual assault prevention.'
The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) at Virginia Tech recently announced a proposed resolution to create a task force to defund the Virginia Tech Police Department.
PSS President of Jack Leff proposed the resolution on September 10.
Keeping with its mission to “fully abolish the campus police,” the GPSS intends to use the resolution and task force to reallocate campus police funding to “social services and overpoliced communities” such as Virginia Tech’s counseling and multicultural centers.
Kase Poling, a Virginia Tech doctoral student who opposes the resolution spoke with Campus Reform.
“The Virginia Tech Police Department serves our campus and community by not only enforcing the law, but also supporting initiatives like safe ride and self-defense courses targeted towards sexual assault prevention,” Poling said.
[RELATED: Amherst College is considering student groups’ call to abolish police department]
But the proposed task force does suggest larger support for Black Lives Matter across Virginia Tech.
One clause in the resolution reads, “WHEREAS, if the university and community affirms Black Lives Matter then it stands to reason they ought to support the single, solitary demand made by the movement...”
[RELATED: Socialist students demand disarming of campus police]
The resolution also states that if Virginia Tech University does not convene a task force to study the issue of defunding the campus police department, the entire department will be dissolved with their “financial resources” distributed to other areas of the university.
”Failure to convene this task force within six months of the passing of the resolution by university council will result in the immediate dissolvement of the campus police with their financial resources distributed to the Cultural and Community Centers and Cook counseling services and their equipment disposed of or sold at auction,” the resolution states.”
The resolution does not specify, however, how the GPSS is able to enforce that provision.
Campus Reform reached out to the university and Jack Leff; this article will be updated accordingly.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @jonesalyssan
