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VOLUME LXXXXVII • ISSUE 13
Taser dispute escalates as students voice concerns
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culle010@mail.sfsu.edu and
GROUP of students against the University Police Department’s proposed use of Tasers hosted a meeting in the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center, Cesar Chavez Student Center room T143, to discuss plans to protest Taser use until its demands are met. The demands include full disclosure of UPD’s Taser regulations and reduction of lethal weapons The group voiced ideas including a march in front of 19th and Holloway avenues, a protest in front of the Administration Building and possibly occupying it.
bfocht@mail.sfsu.edu
Shortly after the start of the meeting an Xpress reporter and selves, but were asked to leave by group leaders who said the meeting wasn’t open to the public. Earlier in the day the group sent out a mass email inviting a list of recipients to attend what was dubbed an “emergency meeting” to discuss the introduction of Tasers. Three members of the Xpress staff were on the list. The email said “we are meeting up at Malcolm X Plaza, to plan out our next step.” Tuesday’s meeting follows a similar conference that took place Thursday at Malcolm X Plaza where about 50 students, faculty and staff gathered to discuss their concerns about UPD’s Taser use.
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Related op-ed: See page 4
Join the conversation #TasersAtSFSU
University seeks community feedback beza@mail.sfsu.edu
Monday, a dry-erase board was set up in Malcolm X Plaza, and on it was the question: What would make San Francisco State a better place? President Leslie E. Wong and his Strategic Planning Committee encouraged students and faculty to write their suggestions, which varied from “lower tuition” to “free parking,” on the board for SF State’s Strategic Planning Kickoff. “We’re looking for solid, good and challenging ideas,” said Wong, who walked around the plaza and asked students to make their way to a board to add a suggestion. SF State’s “strategic plan” is the goal, mission, and objective for
improvement for the University in the coming years. President Wong has worked on a new strategic plan with his committee of 15 faculty, students, administrators and counselors since last year and has since developed seven themes in which they plan to execute their objectives. Themes such as building SF State’s identity, maximizing student success and elevating institutional support were represented at the event with a table for each, where students were given poster boards and markers to write how they thought each goal could be achieved.