Post-Discussion Regarding the Results of the Campus Safety Audit

Students gather to ask President Kevin O’Brien questions about the campus safety audit

Associated Student Government (ASG) hosted a post-discussion with President Kevin O’Brien, S.J. on Jan. 14 where students asked him questions regarding the results of the Campus Safety Services (CSS) audit.

ASG President Ciara Moezidis moderated the discussion and asked questions for the students who wished to remain anonymous.

Senior Senator Sam Castillo mentioned that the audit does not thoroughly describe any efforts to be more actively inclusive towards people of color. Castillo asked when and how CSS will be held more accountable to embody values of diversity and inclusion so that people of color on campus feel safe and cared for.

“One of my deep commitments as a President and as a Jesuit priest frankly is to make sure our students have a safe sense of belonging here and safety here,” O’Brien said. “We could assess complaints, and we could put up structures and...listen to our students to say ‘so what does belonging look like?’”

Santa Clara Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Emma Fontana brought up that many people are apprehensive to call Emergency Medical Services (EMS) since they are connected so closely to CSS. She asked what the role of CSS will be moving forward in order to help people feel safe enough to receive medical attention on campus.

O’Brien said that there is no clear answer to this question at the moment, but he welcomed the feedback and said that they will follow up with EMS on this situation. He stressed that they have to ensure that students get the help they need and if they are not, then they need to think of another way.

Another student anonymously asked how CSS would be redesigned without fully removing it.

“We want to be proactive, not reactive, we want to...make sure we have an environment in which [campus safety is] invested in student’s success and student’s learning and that they are real partners in that,” O’Brien said.

Moezidis voiced some of the concerns and conversations students are having regarding CSS and the audit.

“You can change the outfits or the uniforms and you can change the symbols on the Powerpoints, but ultimately these are the same people no matter what they are wearing and what they are presenting,” Moezidis said. “So, in order to give campus safety a facelift in a way, we really need to look at who are the people in the uniforms and if they are clearly not changing and how they reacted to a lot of the audit questions and does that mean we genuinely have a complete new staff coming in.”

O’Brien closed his discussion by making a final point regarding his goals on the matter.

“What I want to move towards is the way we are proceeding at Santa Clara is defined by restorative justice,” O’Brien said. “That is a principle in the Catholic tradition and the Secular tradition, which looks at ways of relating on a deeper level where we consider how we relate to one another in a restorative way.”