tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-819711698688655785.post5517114887056081214..comments2023-10-30T00:44:05.942-07:00Comments on Governing through Crime: Adding Injury to Insult: Campus Police and University AdministrationsJonathan Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15217567476776700363noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-819711698688655785.post-79055974984555925102011-11-23T12:24:22.182-08:002011-11-23T12:24:22.182-08:00Initially, I was quite confused by administration ...Initially, I was quite confused by administration responses to the protests. In particular, I couldn't see why an ostensibly technocratic group of administrators would respond to protests in such an obviously counterproductive way. How could the lessons of Ed Levi not have been learned? <br /><br />Perhaps because administrators now see the problem differently. Post Seattle, post 9/11, protests are seen as "unacceptable threats to security." The appropriate response to a real security threat isn't to wait it out, the line of thinking must run; the only response is to end it. <br /><br />But isn't one of the key skills of a technocrat the ability to see what is really at stake? Isn't the ability to use detached reason to define and solve problems the very essence of the technocrat? At most, the protests should have registered with the technocratic mind to suggest something about public opinion. At most. I'm quite frankly surprised they were even on the technocratic radar. <br /><br />Does all of this suggests something of a shortcoming among administrators to think through the sources of risk on a campus? Maybe, but that's odd. Administrators are nothing if not familiar with campuses. Although I can see how a certain militarization (the so-called Miami Model) might creep into police forces, very different dynamics seemed to be involved at the campus level. <br /><br />It's harder to see how the Miami Model could be considered a viable alternative among university administrators. But, then again, I have been surprised by official reactions for the past month.callesurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13243869701545858179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-819711698688655785.post-83204418613427670962011-11-21T07:14:24.322-08:002011-11-21T07:14:24.322-08:00Unfortunately, not only will the investigation tar...Unfortunately, not only will the investigation target individual officers as "bad apples," as you suggest, but in addition it will almost inevitably lack any the authority to enforce its conclusions. This is what happened in the wake of the police riot at Wheeler Hall in 2009, when students were beaten (one graduate student's hand was smashed to pieces) and shot with rubber bullets. I believe it took nine months for the report to even be written; and as we saw the other day, it clearly hasn't caused an overhaul in police protocols or administrative priorities.<br /><br />We cannot rely on their own investigations if we want anything to change.Reclaim UC!https://www.blogger.com/profile/05829354530668279576noreply@blogger.com