USG votes in favor of Ohio State to formally condemn Columbus Division of Police

A Columbus Police Department car sits idle in downtown Columbus. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Lantern File Photo

The Undergraduate Student Government’s General Assembly passed a resolution Wednesday night that condemns the Columbus Division of Police and encourages its separation from the university.

The General Assembly passed the resolution unanimously. The resolution claims the Columbus Police is “marred with racism, discrimination, prejudice, and brutality” and asks the university to come up with a plan to protect Black students on campus. 

Brayon Miller, a third-year in public affairs and city and regional planning, said the division has historically mistreated African Americans. 

“These officers are meant to protect us. However, knowing what all CPD has done to African Americans historically, it’s hard to say, as an African American male myself, that I even feel safe with CPD officers being able to patrol off campus,” Miller said. 

Miller is the primary sponsor of the resolution and the president of the Ohio State Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Miller said he wrote the resolution following the murder of Donovan Lewis, an unarmed 20-year-old Black male who was killed in August 2022 by Officer Ricky Anderson of Columbus Police. Anderson was placed on paid leave following the murder. 

Lewis died shortly after, and Anderson was put on paid leave as special prosecutors investigate the shooting, according to the Columbus Dispatch. 

“I bring this up again in April of 2023 to remind everyone in the university that this is a continued issue that we cannot let die down,” Miller said. 

University spokesperson Chris Booker said in an email the University Police Division acts as the primary law enforcement for Ohio State. However, for specific services, such as traffic control, the university hires individual Columbus Police officers. 

“The university respects the role of the Undergraduate Student Government General Assembly to act as the student voice on issues pertinent to campus affairs. Pursuant to our policy, we will carefully study the USG resolution and determine how to proceed,” Booker said. 

According to the university’s safety policy, Ohio State has “a mutual-aid agreement in place that allows our OSUPD to assist CPD off campus in certain circumstances.”

Carla Unzueta, co-sponsor of the resolution and a third-year in women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said Columbus Police has continuously ranked among the worst police departments in the nation for brutality and discrimination. 

“When the university defends its connection with CPD, it almost always says it’s for the safety of the students, but it doesn’t consider how Black and brown students often times do not feel safe with the presence of CPD,” Unzueta said. 

While the entire state of Ohio is below the national average, Franklin County has one of the highest rates of fatal law enforcement shootings in the nation, according to a study by Ohio University and the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health. According to Police Scorecard, a nonprofit that tracks police issues and data online, Columbus Police have a higher rate of killings than 99 percent of U.S. police departments tracked. 

The resolution encouraged Ohio State to release a formal statement acknowledging the continued killings of Black Americans, especially those near campus. It also encourages USG to collaborate with University Police to create a more secure plan to ensure the safety of Black and minority students on campus.

“If the university truly values diversity on their campus as well as safety, they should take action to condemn stakeholders that contribute to the existence of the discrimination and hate on and off campus,” Miller said. 

Columbus Police could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.