Charles H. F. Davis III says more police won’t prevent campus gun violence
In an op-ed for Inside Higher Education Davis writes that urban universities should reckon with long-standing failures to prioritize the well-being of their communities and make meaningful, unconditional investments.
Citing the killing of a Temple University senior in his North Philadelphia apartment last November, and the fatal shooting two weeks later of an 18-year-old Philadephian near Temple’s campus, CSHPE professor Charles H. F. Davis III examines the role of the university in urban communities in an op-ed published by Inside Higher Education.
“The ever-present question in the wake of such a noteworthy increase in violence, especially in this moment of increased public scrutiny, is who—or what—keeps us safe? While the visceral response for many people, perhaps even most, is law enforcement, rest assured the answer surely is not more police,” writes Davis.
“Consider that Temple has maintained personnel and expenditures on policing that are the largest among four-year universities in the nation, according to the most recent U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics data. But those investments have done very little if anything to curb the rise of gun violence on or near the campus,” Davis continues.
Furthermore, Davis asks, “If policing is not the answer, what is?” He argues that strong communities with the necessary resources can prevent, intervene in, and de-escalate harmful situations through a variety of means—from universities creating PILOT agreements to using “their political, social and financial capital to act as good stewards and support the unmet needs of everyday people on their own terms” instead of prioritizing the interests of the university’s endowments and investment holdings.
Davis' current research and teaching focuses on issues of race and racism, systems of oppression, and structures of domination in U.S. higher education and its social contexts. He was also recently quoted in a story covering the death of Illinois State University student Jelani Day in Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and in the Brazilian outlet O Globo, where he spoke about the broad implications of legislation that aims to restrict classroom discussions.
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