UNC Campus Safety Commission Sets Mission, Responsibilities at 1st Meeting

The first meeting of UNC’s Campus Safety Commission began with a moment of silence Wednesday morning in honor of the individuals who were killed in a shooting at UNC – Charlotte on Tuesday night.

This commission was formed by interim chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz after an incident in mid-March when a member of a pro-Confederate group brought a firearm onto the campus, which is illegal. He was not arrested, however, and was instead asked to leave the campus grounds, which he did. That drew criticism from some members of the campus community, and Guskiewicz announced last month that the incident was under review.

Guskiewicz led the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting, calling for a plan for how to address concerns regarding safety on the campus and rebuild trust between the campus community and university police.

“I’m big into having a roadmap to follow for any organization,” he said. “And I think we, together, can build the best roadmap. Whether that looks like the one we will lay out today or something that evolves over the next several months or years.”

De’Ivyion Drew is an undergraduate student on the commission.

“A lot of the trust has been decimated because certain actions have not been held accountable,” she said. “And I believe that once they are held accountable, from that foundation, we will build trust, and we will be able to build a safe and inclusive environment that Carolina so badly wants to advertise to everybody. But it can be achievable.

“That’s why I’m here; that’s why I’m present.”

Larry Grossberg is a professor who lobbied in Tuesday’s organizational meeting for the commission to have enough oversight authority to hold the administration and the university police accountable.

“I’m hopeful that we’ll find a way to give the commission some teeth so that it actually can help build accountability, trust, transparency,” he said after the meeting.

Drew said she was optimistic about the work of the commission after speaking with Guskiewicz prior to the first commission meeting. But she said the scope of what safety the commission would review would be an important decision.

“Should we possess, as a committee, a holistic aspect that includes students, staff and faculty, or should we zero in on the students – particularly anti-racist activists who have been threated by white supremacists who continue to visit this campus and articulate their ‘free speech’ as they believe it to be. But it’s very hateful, and it’s very threatening.”

Tuesday’s meeting consisted of establishing the mission and responsibilities of the commission. Members expressed a desire to establish how broad of a definition of safety it would consider and how complaints could be submitted to the commission for further review.

Professor Frank Baumgartner will co-chair the commission and said he felt like the commission was starting in a good place after he spoke with Guskiewicz and asked what the commission was supposed to solve, and the interim chancellor replied “trust.”

The commission will meet again in mid-June and mid-July.