To add your name to this letter: Click here! http://bit.ly/2S35pFn
On February 4, 2019, our university introduced a bill to the Maryland State Legislature. If passed, this law would authorize “the Johns Hopkins University to establish a police department.” Despite a series of community meetings and public forums, this bill fails to adequately address concerns raised by campus and community members.
We oppose this bill and the University’s creation of an armed private police force. We do not support the creation of a police force that is not accountable to the citizens of the city where it operates.
During the four public events organized by the JHU administration between October and December of 2018, enabling the discussion of issues related to policing, poverty and urban inequality in Baltimore, faculty, students, staff and community members voiced strong opposition to an armed JHU security force. A recent poll by the JHU Student Government Association reported that 75% of undergraduate students were in opposition to the creation of an armed police force. In February of 2018, the students created an organization called Students Against Private Police (SAPP) which has held multiple rallies and informational sessions on the Hopkins campus and in adjacent Baltimore neighborhoods. We support our students.
Our concerns regarding a campus police force are as follows: We believe that an armed force of university employees operating beyond our campus is undemocratic. We believe that a private police force conveys a perception of Hopkins as a campus in an antagonistic relation with nonwhite and economically precarious Baltimore City and subscribes in its enforcement policies to the logic of racial profiling. We believe that armed personnel introduce dangerous firearms and can decrease public safety, endanger our own students, and increase risk. We are concerned that once in place, police administrations will inevitably amplify the climate of fear and justify their roles by citing stops, arrests, and detainments. We believe it undermines the University’s repeated insistence that Johns Hopkins is of the city and supports the city. Rather, it manifests the philosophy that we are not, fundamentally, all in it together. We wish to see the university taking on the role of constructive partner in a complex public issue of public health and educational equity and community well-being.
The university has failed to provide serious evidence that creating a private armed police force will have the intended effects. As SAPP has duly noted: “Black and brown students and Baltimoreans are already disproportionately targeted. Private police on campus are likely to exacerbate racial profiling, with even more dangerous and potentially fatal consequences.”
Johns Hopkins rightly expresses concern about the “physical, social, and economic well-being of the city in which we live,” but it is inconceivable to us that a private police force run by the university to patrol the neighboring communities would improve these relations. We strongly oppose this highly undemocratic proposal.
For more information:
Students Against a Johns Hopkins Police Force Petition: http://bit.ly/2S6I7ig
SB 793 the Community Strengthening and Safety Act: http://bit.ly/2S25v0j
Say 'no' to Hopkins' private police - Op-Ed by Quinn Lester in the Baltimore Sun http://bit.ly/2S3C7Xt
Baltimore lawmakers halt proposal to create Johns Hopkins police force - Baltimore Sun http://bit.ly/2X7yx2m
Maryland lawmakers will not support Hopkins police force bill (March 2018) - The Johns Hopkins News-Letter http://bit.ly/2RYEhaN
Johns Hopkins Pushes for Armed Police on Campus - WSJ https://on.wsj.com/2S2ADws
Signed,
Lawrence Jackson
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Department of History
François Furstenberg
Professor
Department of History
Emily Riehl
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics
Vesla M Weaver
Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Michael Levien
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
Rina Agarwala
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
Anne-Elizabeth Brodsky
Senior Lecturer
Program in Expository Writing
Dean Moyar
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
Katrin Pahl
Associate Professor
Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures
Bentley Allan
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Nadia Nurhussein
Associate Professor
Department of English
Beverly J. Silver
Professor
Department of Sociology
Erica Schoenberger
Professor
Department of Environmental Health and Engineering
Carsten Prasse
Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental Health and Engineering
Jeanne-Marie Jackson-Awotwi
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Tom Özden-Schilling
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Clara Han
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
Stephen J Campbell
Henry and Elizabeth Wiesenfeld Professor
Department of the History of Art
Shane Butler
Nancy H. and Robert E. Hall Professor in the Humanities
Chair, Department of Classics
Jessica Marie Johnson
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Katie Hindmarch-Watson
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Toby Ditz
Professor
Department of History
Andrew Daniel
Associate Professor
Department of English
Christopher Lebron
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
Nathan Connolly
Herbert Baxter Adams Associate Professor
Department of History
Kristin Cook-Gailloud
Senior Lecturer
Director, French Language Program
Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures
Jane Bennett
Andrew Mellon Professor of the Humanities
Department of Political Science
P. J. Brendese
Assistant Professor
Co-Director: Racism, Immigration and Citizenship Program
Department of Political Science
Naveeda Khan
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
William E. Connolly
Krieger-Eisenhower Professor
Department of Political Science
Sharon Achinstein
Sir William Osler Professor
Department of English
Derek Schilling
Professor of French
Chair, Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures
Joel Andreas
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
Elizabeth Thornberry
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Casey Marina Lurtz
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Mark Christian Thompson
Professor
Chair, Department of English
Jennifer L. Culbert
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Kenneth Moss
Associate Professor
Felix Posen Chair in Modern Jewish History
Department of History
Lester K. Spence
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Karen Fleming
Professor
Thomas C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics
Ciaran J Harman
Assistant Professor
Russell Croft Faculty Scholar
Environmental Health And Engineering
Michael Degani
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Nino Zchomelidse
Associate Professor
Department of the History of Art
Veena Das
Krieger-Eisenhower Professor
Department of Anthropology
Daniel Schlozman
Joseph and Bertha Bernstein Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Sauleh A Siddiqui
Assistant Professor
Co-Director, Center for Systems Science and Engineering
Department of Civil Engineering
Graham Mooney
Associate Professor
Institute of the History of Medicine
Mary Favret
Professor
Department of English
Todd Shepard
Arthur O. Lovejoy Professor
Department of History
Yumi Kim
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Christopher Cannon
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Departments of English and Classics
Michael Kwass
Professor
Department of History
Jesse Rosenthal
Associate Professor
Department of English
Martha S. Jones
Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor
Department of History
Zackary Berger
Associate Professor
Division of General Internal Medicine
Paola Marrati
Professor of Humanities and Philosophy
Department of Comparative Thought and Literature
Tamer el-Leithy
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Maya Gomes
Assistant Professor
Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences
Anicia Timberlake
Musicology
Peabody Institute
Mary E. Fissell
Professor
Department of History
Institute of the History of Medicine
Christopher Nealon
Professor
Department of English
M. Ali Khan
Abram Hutzler Professor of Political Economy
Department of Economics
Jared Hickman
Associate Professor
Department of English
Deborah Poole
Professor
Department of Anthropology
Katrina Bell McDonald
Associate Professor
Co-Director, Center for Africana Studies
Department of Sociology
Suzanne Roos
Senior Lecturer
Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures
Claude Guillemard
Senior Lecturer
Department of German and Romance Languages & Literatures
Christy Thornton
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
Christian Jones
Assistant Professor
Department of Surgery
School of Medicine
Bécquer Seguín
Assistant Professor
Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures
Amy Knowlton
Full Professor
Department of Health, Behavior and Society
S. Wilson Beckham
Faculty
Health, Behavior and Society
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Elanor Taylor
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy
David Gutkin
Musicology
Peabody Institute
Johannes Thrul
Assistant Professor
Department of Mental Health
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Jennifer Stager
Assistant Professor
Department of the History of Art
Magda von der Heydt
Department of Sociology
Wayne Biddle
Visiting Associate Professor
Writing Seminars
Renée M. Johnson
Associate Professor
Dept. Of Mental Health
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Alexandre White
Faculty
Department of Sociology
Judah Adashi
Faculty
Music Composition
Peabody Institute
Alessandro Angelini
Faculty
Department of Anthropology
Natasha Chida
Assistant Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine
Stanley Andrisse
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Pediatrics Endocrinology
School of Medicine
Sabine Stanley
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Daniela C. Rodriguez
Associate Scientist
Department of International Health
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Douglas Mao
Professor
English
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences
Rashelle Musci
Faculty
Mental Health
School of Public Health
Danielle Evans
Assistant Professor
The Writing Seminars
Sabriya Linton
Faculty
Department of Mental Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Sarah Horst
Assistant Professor
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Carolyn Sufrin
Assistant Professor
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics
School of Medicine
Ryan Calder
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology and Program in Islamic Studies
Elizabeth J. Letourneau
Professor
Department of Mental Health
Ho-fung Hung
Henry M. and Elizabeth P Wiesenfeld Professor in Political Economy
Department of Sociology
Colleen Christmas
Associate Professor
Department of Medicine
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Jocelyne DiRuggiero
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
Lorraine T. Dean
Assistant Professor
Epidemiology
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Erin Chung
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Maria Procopio
Faculty
Department of Biophysics
Huei-Ying Kuo
Research Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
Emily M. Agree
Research Professor
Department of Sociology
Ana Damjanovic
Faculty
Department of Biophysics
Yulia Frumer
Assistant Professor
History of Science
Michael Rosenblum
Associate Professor
Department of Biostatistics
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Emily Fisher
Associate Teaching Professor
Department of Biology
Leah Jager
Assistant Scientist
Department of Biostatistics
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Brian Caffo Full Professor
Biostatistics
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Emmy Smith
Assistant Professor
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Meghan Avolio
Assistant Professor
Departmetn of Earth & Planetary Sciences
Lydia Pecker
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
Dora Malech
Assistant Professor
The Writing Seminars
Photini Sinnis
Full Professor
Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology
Elizabeth Ogburn
Assistant Professor
Biostatistics
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Ibrahima Bah
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
David E Kaplan
Full Professor
Department of Physics and Astromony
Ginger Hanson
Assistant Professor
School of Nursing
Francesca Serra
Assistant Professor
Physics and Astronomy
George Oppel
Lecturer
Program in Expository Writing
Homayra Ziad
Lecturer
Islamic Studies
Leonardo Lisi
Associate Professor
Department of Comparative Thought and Literature
Emily Anderson
Department of Classics
Last updated: 2019 April 10 | 14:13:21