FEATURE
REFORM OR PERFORM EVALUATING TUFTS’ PROGRESS ON TRANSFORMING TUPD By Anthony Cason Davis-Pait and Carolina Olea Lezama
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n June 2020, over 2,000 students, faculty, staff, and alumni signed the Tufts for Black Lives petition that called upon the Tufts University administration to disarm and defund the Tufts University Police Department. In Fall 2020, students voted overwhelmingly in favor of ending TUPD’s participation in military training trips abroad. In light of national scrutiny on policing, Tufts has launched several new initiatives to measure campus sentiment and create a path forward for TUPD. After a year of these efforts by Tufts and a set of recommendations resulting from the Campus Safety and Policing Workstream, the Tufts community is re-evaluating whether these efforts are actually making progress in transforming TUPD and if they should spend energy engaging with them. As announced in a statement by Tufts President Tony Monaco in July 2020, five workstreams were created as a part of the “Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution strategic initiative,” 4 TUFTS OBSERVER OCTOBER 11, 2021
one of which was the Campus Safety and Policing Workstream. This workstream was created to “evaluate the current campus safety and policing model and recommend changes, identify immediate- and long-term objectives, and develop a framework to remain responsive to our community needs.” The workstream began meeting in September 2020 and concluded in February 2020. The Working Group on TUPD Arming (WGTA) was then established following the original workstream’s report. Both the workstream and the working group have established forums, surveys, and focus groups throughout the last year to gather community input on campus policing. Chief Diversity Officer Rob Mack and Associate Provost and Executive Vice President Mike Howard led the group, which brought in faculty, staff, and students from every campus and met twice a week. Lidya Woldeyesus, a senior and one of the two undergraduate students in the workstream, was originally excited
