A Columbus Police Department car sits idle in downtown Columbus. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Lantern File Photo
The Undergraduate Student Government has a history of advocating against the Columbus Division of Police’s relationship with Ohio State, but after three years and two letters, it looks to make a change with a new resolution.
USG’s General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution April 5 to formally condemn the Columbus Police, claiming the department is “marred with racism, discrimination, prejudice, and brutality.” This follows a movement that picked up steam in USG in 2020, marking the third time the student government body has called to cut ties with Columbus Police.
Brayon Miller, a third-year in public affairs and city and regional planning, said he wrote the April 5 resolution following the murder of Donovan Lewis, an unarmed 20-year-old Black man who was killed in August 2022 by officer Ricky Anderson of Columbus Police. Anderson was placed on paid leave following the murder.
Ohio State spokesperson Chris Booker said in an email the university respects the General Assembly’s role to voice student concerns on campus and will “carefully study” the resolution to “determine how to proceed.”
Booker said the University Police Division “is the primary law enforcement agency” on all Ohio State campuses.
“In Columbus, we hire individual Columbus Division of Police (CPD) officers for specific services, largely traffic control on city streets for athletics events,” Booker said. “We also have a mutual-aid agreement in place that allows our OSUPD to assist CPD off campus in certain circumstances.”
Booker said more information about the university’s “commitment to campus and off-campus safety” can be found on the university’s key issues page.
Columbus Police did not respond to requests for comment.
USG passed two other resolutions to cut ties with Columbus Police in 2020 and 2021. Incoming USG President Bobby McAlpine and Vice President Madison Mason said in an interview with The Lantern Tuesday the USG constitution states the newly-written legislation of one year does not pass over to the next.
“We will encourage all of our senators to reach out into the community and actually get data on what students are feeling about [relations with Columbus Police], so then they can make whatever decisions they plan to make,” McAlpine said.
McAlpine and Mason said they have received feedback from students in favor of interacting with University Police.
“[University Police Chief] Kimberly Spears-McNatt is amazing, and she really has an amazing group of officers,” McAlpine said. “Director Monica Moll, they’re all just an amazing team to work with. And they’re really looking at helping students as much as possible with getting OSUPD answering different calls and things like that.”
Mason said the executive staff’s top priority is putting students in their comfortable environments.
“We’re just going to talk to OSUPD about it to see what the relationship currently looks like and if we feel like it could be adjusted in any way that could positively impact,” Mason said.
2020 statement after the murder of George Floyd and Columbus protests
Following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody, protests erupted across the nation. After five days of protests in Columbus and many viral videos of police brutality against protesters, USG demanded Ohio State end its relationship with Columbus Police in June 2020. The letter was co-signed by the Interprofessional Council and the Council of Graduate Students. The letter gained over 20,000 co-signers from Ohio State students and Columbus residents.
The statement, directed toward former University President Michael V. Drake and other university leaders also called for police funds to be diverted toward student resources — like Consultation and Counseling Services — and urged the university to “acknowledge and condemn the anti-Black violence the Columbus Police Department committed against Ohio State students and the greater Columbus community.”
“We can no longer accept bias trainings, reactionary meetings, or community dialogue. Community dialogue does not work when you kill the community,” USG stated. “Our city is burning, our students are hurting, the safety and wellbeing of the Black community is at inherent risk and there is no other time to act than now.”
In response, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said in a June 2020 email the university was “inspired by their commitment to this cause,” and the university would “be in dialogue” with the student government leaders.
That same month, nearly 300 faculty wrote the university to cut ties with Columbus Police.
Included in the faculty’s letter are names of Black Columbus residents killed by Columbus Police in recent years — including Henry Green, 13-year-old Tyre King in 2016 and 16-year-old Julius Tate in 2018. It also mentions a 2012 incident of excessive use of force against former Black Ohio State student Joseph Hines. According to a lawsuit filed by Hines, police officers maced him and knocked him unconscious while arresting him for littering and underage drinking across the street from the Ohio Union. Hines won the lawsuit.
2021 response to Columbus Police killing of Ma’khia Bryant
On April 20, 2021, Columbus Police killed a 16-year-old Black girl, Ma’khia Bryant — the same day former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all charges for Floyd’s death. Demonstrations on campus and in Columbus attracted hundreds to protest Ohio State’s relationship with the police.
University President Kristina M. Johnson said in an April 27, 2021, universitywide email the administration “acknowledges the perspectives that are being shared by students, their families, faculty and staff members, and our community as a whole,” calling for both an increased police presence and cutting ties with Columbus Police.
Former USG President Jacob Chang and Vice President Anna Valerius delivered another message to university leaders, like Kristina Johnson, acknowledging the letter from the previous year. The 2021 letter claims “university administrators have not met the demands and addressed the concerns of students.” The letter points out that in less than six months, Columbus Police killed Black Columbus residents Casey Goodson Jr., Andre Hill, Miles Jackson and Bryant.
Former BuckeyeThon President Ben Smith and Ohio Union Activities Board President Emily Montenegro co-signed the letter.
“We call upon our university to immediately cease all contractual relationships with the Columbus Police Department and instead invest in alternatives that center the wellbeing and safety of Black students at Ohio State,” USG stated. “None of the demands that we are addressing and none of the harm we are acknowledging in this statement are new; advocacy led by student leaders has been happening for years, and action is long overdue on the part of The Ohio State University.”
Sydney Jones and Becca Duncan contributed to reporting.
This story was updated at 1:20 p.m. Thursday for a more accurate reflection of the university’s statements for safety guidelines on the Office of Marketing and Communications website.
