See the bottom of this article for a release of documents related to AR-15 purchases and President Bridges’ approval.
BY FOREST HUNT
In its last edition the Cooper Point Journal reported that Police Services quietly purchased rifles in fall of 2017, and that the purchase was quickly authorized by President George Bridges over that summer.
Former Director of Police Services Stacy Brown requested five AR-15 rifles on Aug. 1, which Bridges approved only two weeks later.
Purchase orders reveal that the school procured seven Colt LE6920 AR-15 rifles at $792.68 each and seven Aimpoint Patrol Rifles Sights at $429 each on Nov 7th, 2017. A week later the school bought nine cases of .223 Remington and 5.56x45mm NATO bullets for $2,326.76.
Including tax and shipping, the guns and bullets cost the school $10,897.76.
Outlined in their “Standard Operating Procedures,” [see below] Police Services rules allow officers to use personal rifles. There are currently nine officers working for campus police, meaning there could be 16 rifles on campus at any given time.
“I don’t know why they would spend that money because these police officers already have rifles, I’m sure of it. I mean everybody who’s involved in gun culture, who’s involved in the military, who’s involved in police, etc. is going to have a personal rifle no doubt about it,” said Lars, a current Evergreen student. Lars said they were familiar with Police Services through Copwatch, an autonomous network who observe and document police activity, and through participation in local gun culture alongside police.
Community Responds to Rifle Decision
Interim Director of Police Services Raymond Holmes said that campus police provide “a safe environment which enables students, staff, and faculty to focus on teaching and learning,” and “to accomplish that, we must be trained and equipped to the best professional standard. That includes rifles, which are part of the standard equipment for law enforcement at every public four-year college in the state of Washington.”
Professor Emeritus Michael Vavrus pointed out that, although it may be true that other public four year universities in Washington have rifles, schools of comparable size to Evergreen — like St. Martins and high schools across the country — don’t have these arms.
Evergreen student Sanna said they understand the rifles were purchased for “protection” after the shooter threat from a New Jersey man in 2017, but criticized Police Services for not thinking more broadly about threats. “Where was the protection when Naima Lowe was receiving death threats and photos of lynchings?” asked Sanna. “Where was her and other faculty of color’s on-campus security escorts?”
Another student, Cameron, expressed empathy for the concerns of some community members for an active shooter event, but didn’t think the AR-15s would help. “I don’t know if having more weapons on campus will make anything safer for anybody,” said Cameron. “I think it will escalate the situation.”
Lars said they would prefer campus to be free of all arms, but that “students should be armed if police officers are armed.”
Student Bobby G expressed skepticism that active shooter situations were common enough to even worry about. “I think that it’s far more likely the cops will use rifles to injure or kill unarmed students,” said Bobby G.
Student K.B. agreed and expressed concern that rifle bullets have a high potential to ricochet off the concrete and brick that defines Evergreen’s architecture. K.B. also pointed to the now heightened implications of someone trying to commit suicide by cop. “I find it terrifying this doesn’t seem to have been considered.” Vavrus added that the bullets of an AR-15 could pierce classroom walls.
“The active shooters I’m worried about are, basically, the Evergreen police,” said Wobbly, a current student.
Community Speaks Up On Police Misconduct & Racism
“Our officers are highly trained and certified in the use of their equipment,” said Interim Director Holmes. “They adhere to the best practices and procedures regarding their use.” Police Services has not yet released documentation confirming officers have reviewed the new Standard Operating Procedures for use of rifles since the Cooper Point Journal sent a public records request lodged Oct. 10.
An Evergreen student, Lynn, remembers occasions where she witnessed dubious behavior by campus police. She recalls watching a group of students of color being “treated like they did something wrong” and asked for their ID by Police Services officers after accidentally pressing the information button on an elevator. She also worried about how the police respond to students experiencing an emotional crisis, recalling a friend of hers “crying and wanting to be left alone” before the police “sat on her and fucking arrested her.”
Courtney Conaway, an Evergreen alumnus, described the police as “petty” and unfocused on crime prevention, and recalled a situation where they handcuffed her after seeing an herb grinder in her room on campus.
Lars said they saw an Evergreen police officer participate in a “very violent” response to recent direct action events at the Artesian Commons Park.
Ever, a current student, recalls how she was stopped for a traffic ticket by a campus cop, and the officer was “unnecessarily aggressive.” She believed his behavior was influenced by a grudge from a previous run-in with him.
“I’ve certainly spoken to many students who have been harassed by police,” said Peter Bohmer, a faculty member, also recalling an incident in which Officer Larry Savage listened in on his phone calls on campus years ago.
Nicholas Jeffreys, a current student, outlined several instances of concerning conduct at the hands of campus police. He recounted how a former roommate “went to contest [a] ticket… and was slammed on the ground… by [an Evergreen] police officer,” which Jeffreys characterized as an example of “racial bias, completely.”
History of Tension with Campus Police
The Journal has covered instances of campus police misconduct in the past. The Journal reported on a May 14, 2017 incident in which “two Black students … were woken up by the campus police and taken to Police Services to be questioned and remained there from around 11 p.m. until 2 a.m.,” and were not allowed to use the restroom for the duration of that time.
Former editor-in-chief Jasmine Kozak-Gilroy wrote in an op-ed for the Journal titled “Campus Police: Not ‘Just Here To Help’” that, during the 2017 student protests, “Evergreen police officer O’Dell shoved through students … injuring protestors.”
“It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop,” by Reclaim The Media documents the infamous “V-Day Uprising” that took place outside the Campus Recreation Center in 2008. The documentary outlines how following a Dead Prez hip-hop concert a black male student attempting to break up a fight was arrested by Campus Police Officer April Myers before being set free in the face of a crowd of supportive students. Soon after, the Olympia Police Department arrived, “throwing blows with their fists and batons and spraying pepper spray on … [the] peaceful protesters,” according to the documentary. The crowd subsequently flipped a police car.
Bohmer recalls how the school sided against the students, collaborated with law enforcement, and “made many felony arrests afterward.”
Jeffreys also described an incident when campus police “viciously and violently” threw “an older Chinese woman” on the ground for suspected drug use after she spent “too long” in the bathroom during an event when writer and transgender rights activist Janet Mock spoke on campus in May 2016.
Jeffreys also recalled how campus police never identified who painted a large swastika on the side of a SEM II building in 2017, concluding that police were not prioritizing action against hate crimes.
On top of these particular events, the police “treat black students here differently, especially black queer and trans students, they treat them badly, don’t talk to them, don’t interact with them,” said Jeffreys. “They follow [people of color] around, they look at them differently … people of color don’t feel comfortable going to police, queer and trans folks more than most.”
Jeffreys said “I worry about other people who look like me being murdered by campus police because the AR-15s, it’s a hair trigger.” He went on to reason a handgun can still give a person time to survive compared to an AR-15, where the faster trigger time and increased number of bullets make survival unlikely.
Boehmer shared similar concerns, “I’m worried about somebody who’s African American, Latino, Native American … [people] of color being the ones who would be shot.”
James is a student who is also troubled by how uncomfortable students of color will feel knowing police have AR-15s. James said he would love to think it did not have an effect on speech, but “I would watch what I said if someone had an AR-15 rifle,” he said.
H.L., another student, expressed his fear to speak honestly as a person of color about his opinions regarding police getting rifles, particularly as to how policing intersects with racism.
Indeed, a significant portion of community members quoted in this article elected to use a pseudonym out of fear that speaking their honest opinions may provoke campus police and potentially put them in harm’s way. Many others seemed reticent to express their whole opinions even with the protection of anonymity, one concluding after our interview, “I’m just trying to stay alive.”
Ezra Haley, a current student, wondered how many members of the Evergreen community never come forward with stories of campus police violence and misconduct out of “fear of what Evergreen police could do to them.”
It’s not just fear that has prevented some from coming forward with their stories. One alumnus declined to comment on an incident of racial bias due to resurfaced trauma connected to the incident.
Community Responds to Secrecy
Community members by and large did not know why the college decided to buy rifles, a void in communication that many filled with their own theories. “Did they acquire [the rifles] because of the death threats or did they acquire [them] because of the students that were protesting and making national news?” asked James. “Maybe, but they would never say that.”
Ever was more explicit, saying, “I bet they’re preparing for more riots, and that’s why they’re getting more guns.”
The Journal reported last week that Evergreen senior administration have been candid about the secrecy surrounding the purchase of rifles.
President George Bridges made the final decision, but the smaller details of how the decision was made and who knew what — and when — still remain unclear. Allison Anderson, Public Relations Manager, claimed the Board of Trustees “were consulted on the issue of police equipment and rifles.”
There appears to be no record of this consultation, nor any mention of rifles at all in the past two years of their publicly available minutes.
“I think the students deserve to have input on [this], especially because we’re the ones being affected,” said Maria, a current student.
“This campus is so undemocratic and untransparent, it doesn’t surprise me,” said student Patrick Hamilton. Hamilton said the secrecy surrounding the purchase shows the administration “know the vast majority of students here would probably support disarming the police.”
Student Alice McIntyre agreed, and added, “Not only should we disarm the police, we should kick them off campus period. We should also abolish the administration and the Board of Trustees in favor of democratically elected student-worker-faculty committees.”
What Next?
“We need to stand up and protest against [the rifle decision],” said Jeffreys. “We need to stand up and fight back, because [this] decision was not made on our behalf, and we’re willing to pay everyone’s salary. We have to rejuvenate the school spirit by rejuvenating the basis of what it is.”
Dan agreed “I think when your back is up against a wall you have no reason not to fight,” they said. “if you have nothing to lose, why not fight? Why not?” They encourage the community to fight for the sake of it, and not stop if they lose.
The International Workers of the World South Sound General Education Union, which is attempting to organize students, staff, and faculty into a single union and counter-institution, is planning a “Profs Not Cops” rally on November 7th at 1pm on Red Square.
David Weinman, a student involved with the rally, described it as “students, faculty, and staff joining together to demand that administration stop redirecting funds from art and political economy programs to campus police.”
Responding to the idea that Evergreen has a public relations problem in the state legislature and any more protest might risk state funding or even the closing of the school, Jeffreys said, “That’s what Evergreen has been based off of, risking it. No great change is made through bowing.”
“There will be a way, there is always a way, but not if the institution doesn’t have the students back,” said Jeffreys.
The following documents were used to produce this piece:
Rifle & Bullet Purchase Orders (pdfs)
Police Services Operating Procedures (pdf)
Police Directors Request & Bridges Approval (pdf)
External Report on Response to Spring 2017 (pdf)
Webmaster’s Note [10/31/18, 3:20 p.m.]: This article originally ran under the headline “Community Responds to TESC AR-15 Purchases: “Students should be armed if police officers are armed.” The headline has been updated to match our print edition.
