Students Protest the Swearing In of New Security Officer for WSUV

Amidst WSU-V’s swearing in of Officer David Ortner at the Public Safety Celebration yesterday, students expressed dismay at the decision to bring on more campus security through a counterprotest held outside of the Dengerink Administration Building.

In response to the Public Safety Celebration, an open forum was held by the WSUV Collective for Social and Environmental Justice (CSEJ), where students from CSEJ got together to discuss budgeting priorities, policing, and community safety. Participants concluded the forum by organizing messaging and preparing material for the protest.

WSUV student Ander shared that their frustration stems from what they see as misplaced university priorities and the current campus security officers already doing a poor job at promoting safety. 

There were several concerns discussed at the forum, and one prominent one was the allocation of university funds toward security and away from things like the cafeteria. 

“A cup of cantaloupe costs $7… drinks are $4.50… and as a student with severe food insecurity and hypoglycemia, I can’t afford those prices. But I also can’t afford to pass out.” Ander said. “They can fund a police officer who took a $150,000 salary at his last job . . . And they won’t fund a cafeteria which would take $40,000 to start back up.” 

The funding allocations weren’t the only concern though. WSUV student Kate, who attended the forum and the subsequent protest, expressed that they felt student safety wasn’t actually being prioritized: 

“There are deep concerns about ICE presence on our campus. Since we are a public university, we technically can’t bar ICE officers from visiting our campus. And currently our only ICE response that we have is to send officers to the Chancellor’s office,” Kate said. 

Kate lamented the lack of rapid response training for staff or personnel on campus. They added that students and faculty are afraid, for themselves, families and their neighbors, and said that the last thing needed on campus is more state agents.

CORRECTION: This article previously reported that there were other student organizations which collaborated with CSEJ in setting the forum up, this was inaccurate. The error has been removed.