More Anti-Police Rhetoric at Portland State University as Students Protest Board Meeting

Portland State University, which is not a stranger to controversy, is at the center of a student movement to disarm its campus police officers. During a trustees meeting, some of the university’s student union members urged the trustees to disarm the university’s campus police force.

The reason behind the protests was that Portland State police shot and killed Jason Washington, a black male, when he reached for a gun that dropped from his holster. Washington was trying to break up a fight before being shot and killed.

Although the officers were not found guilty of any legal wrongdoing, Portland State University hired a security firm, Margolis Healy, to recommend changes and study campus safety policies and procedures. The firm, among its 209-page report, found 52 percent of students and faculty members think that campus police should not carry weapons. But the firm concluded that campus police should not be disarmed.

Also, the university administration will not make a decision until the upcoming fall 2019 semester.

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