Members of the BFC expressed concern regarding the IU Police Department’s participation in a Law Enforcement Support Office program. The program distributes surplus military supplies to colleges and universities, distributing six M16 rifles to IUPD since 2010.
Jerry Minger, superintendent of public safety, and Laury Flint, IUPD chief, responded to BFC members’ concerns regarding the necessity of such weapons.
Minger said that while the M16 rifles qualify up to 100 yards, the traditional pistols only qualify up to 25 yards.
“The weapons were purchased in response to the escalation in superior weapons and the prevalence of the type of firearms and shootings that we see on college campuses,” Minger said. “We have had guns on this campus a number of times in the recent past. Many times it doesn’t make the papers like some other news, but they’re here.”
Minger and Flint also responded to BFC members’ concerns regarding the use of these weapons.
Minger said the M16 rifles will only be used if necessary.
“We do have other non-lethal ways,” Minger said.
These ways include verbal and physical contact, the use of a baton and the use of pepper spray.
Such methods, however, are better for close combat and one-on-one-situations, Minger said.
“Before we actually deployed these rifles, we also put policies and procedures in place to make sure that officers were trained with them, that there were only certain circumstances when they would actually be taken out and charged,” Minger said.
Flint said nine officers have been trained with the M16 rifles since 2010.
Only one M16 rifle, secured under lock and key, has been deployed since 2010.
The other five M16 rifles, all of which are also secured under lock and key, have not been deployed and remain in storage.
In addition to expressing concern regarding IUPD’s participation in a Law Enforcement Support Office program, members of the BFC briefly discussed the Resolution on Academic Freedom.
However, further discussion of Academic Freedom was put off until the BFC meeting Oct. 21.
The Resolution on Academic Freedom protects IU faculty’s freedom of expression, stating that, in public speech, faculty are free of institutional control.
The Resolution on Academic Freedom, however, also states that, in public speech, faculty should avoid appearing as spokesmen ?for IU.
Members of the BFC discussed the Resolution on Academic Freedom in response to recent controversies limiting faculty’s freedom of expression at the University of Illinois, Chicago State University and Colorado State University, among others.
“We shouldn’t take our academic freedom for granted,” said Steve Sanders, associate professor of law.
