Recommendations for Office of Campus and Community Safety Services
November 02, 2020
Dear Brooklyn College colleagues,
We are pleased to share with you more progress from the Implementation Team for Racial Justice. First, we are happy to announce that Annette Nesbit, the Administrative Assistant in our SEEK Program, has joined our team as a representative of staff who are Gittlesons. Annette has over 20 years of experience at the College and has made a significant contribution to her department. We look forward to working with her.
Second, we are pleased to announce the launch of an Anti-Racism Initiative website, which highlights the progress we have made toward implementing our campus Anti-Racism Agenda.
Overall, we have made progress on action items for staff, students, and faculty in recent weeks, and the work continues. We have now conducted a review of our Office of Campus and Community Safety Services. Among other things, we reviewed five years of data on complaints lodged against public safety officers. We noted that there were no complaints of violence over that period of time, and that most complaints were about rudeness. We recommend the following action items:
Campus Climate. Brooklyn College will survey students on the campus climate. Among other things, the survey should ask students about whether public safety officers on campus treat students with respect and whether they are consistent in applying rules and policies. The survey should assess whether students believe there is racial harmony on campus, and whether students have witnessed acts of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. The survey should also assess whether students perceive that campus community members are open to the ideas of others and accepting of difference. Students, please check your email for the climate survey, called BC CARES.
Training for Public Safety. The Implementation Team will review the required twelve-week training CUNY provides to public safety officers, and the additional three-week training the Office of Campus and Community Safety Services provides to public safety officers. The Team will evaluate the training and make recommendations for change to the Office to help prevent misconduct in the first place.
Anonymous Reporting. The Office of Campus and Community Safety Services will create and promote an anonymous method for filing complaints against public safety officers
Transparent Complaint Reports. The Office of Campus and Community Safety Services will publish a public safety complaint report each semester. The report will include the number and types of complaints made against public safety officers and the actions taken to address those complaints.
Safety Review Board. The College will establish a Safety Review Board consisting of students, staff, and faculty to develop recommendations to improve the Office of Campus and Community Safety Services. The Safety Review Board will review the semester complaint reports and the campus climate survey results to develop strategies that prioritize social service and counseling programs in response to safety issues on campus.
We are excited to continue the work. Please keep the feedback coming. You can email us at ITRJ@brooklyn.cuny.edu or use our anonymous Community Feedback Form.
Sincerely,
Anthony Brown, Ron Jackson, and James Lynch, on behalf of the Implementation Team for Racial Justice
