UC Community Safety Plan Released

Campus Update

Chancellor Block and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Carter sent the following message to the UCLA campus community.

Dear Bruin Community:

Yesterday, University of California President Michael Drake unveiled the UC Community Safety Plan, a systemwide framework for improving safety operations on the UC campuses so that all members of our community feel welcome, respected, supported and protected from harm. We encourage you to read President Drake’s announcement in full (PDF).

We have reviewed the president’s plan and support its four central conclusions: that campus safety policies and practices must reflect the needs and values of our diverse community; that “safety” should be broadly defined to include mental health, wellness, basic needs, bias/hate response and more; that campuses must collect and publish safety data with an eye towards continuous improvement; and that we should develop new structures to further demonstrate our commitment to accountability, transparency and community engagement in our safety operations. We will be working with the UC Office of the President and campus partners to implement the recommended actions described in the plan.

As we announced earlier this year, at UCLA we have been working on a separate but coordinated effort to address safety concerns on our campus. Attorney and alum Rasha Gerges Shields and Professor Tyrone Howard are co-chairing this initiative, and they intend to publish a report this fall outlining their public safety recommendations based on the feedback they received from the Bruin community over the last several months. The co-chairs’ report will also include recommendations based on the findings of an independent, third-party review of the LAPD’s use of the parking lot at Jackie Robinson Stadium last summer to process the arrests of protesters, which will be published this fall as well. We will soon launch a website that provides updates, information and resources related to these and our other public safety efforts.

We join President Drake and leaders across the University of California in reaffirming a commitment to making UC a place where we respect the rights and safeguard the well-being of every member of our community. The work we are undertaking at both the system level and the campus level will help us get there, and we thank you all for your valuable input and support.

Sincerely,