Students, police build bridges

De Anza students and campus police officers met to have an open dialogue about the current relationship between the two during the Building Bridges community discussion.

The event, called “Building Bridges: Student and Community Police Town Hall” was attended by vocal participants who expressed their concerns about a lack of safety on campus, racial profiling and building strong communication at De Anza College.

“I am glad that there is finally a forum where we can discuss these issues, but the event is very watered down,” said Sharla Stevens, high school teacher and former DASB president from 15 years ago. “If we can’t encourage conversations, we can’t begin to build trust.”

After entering student participation, the event shifted towards a panel consisting of three students who were arrested on campus. The students all faced run-ins with campus police and deemed the arrests unfair.

FHDA Police Chief Ron Levine said that he considers the “campus safe statistically” and that “not all the problems are the police department’s problems.”

Despite concerns over the campus escort service not working, delayed responses to calls and the dimly lit parking lot, Levine said he wants to “work with the campus community to solve problems.”

After the panel, the final event was a talk from keynote speaker Judge LaDoris H. Cordell. Cordell, whose speech commenced with an introduction of incidents of racism throughout history, segwayed into the unfair infrastructure of law enforcement and its relations with citizens.

“The overall event was disappointing, but Cordell’s speech inspired me, and gave me hope,” said Dikshya Dhungana, journalism major, 19.

In forming the event, Steve Nara, coordinator of the Office of Equity, said that students know more about these issues than any

“It is good to have these events, since it’s open and we can advocate for each other,” Nara said.

The event itself had multiple building exercises between participants, such as asking them: “What does a safe campus feel like?”

Answers included: An end to hate speech, reduced police presence on campus and someone to police the police.