Members of the Campus and Village Community,
As students return to Colgate and rejoin the Hamilton community this fall, we are taking this opportunity to write to you together to affirm our shared commitment to ensuring a strong and healthy relationship between Colgate University and the Village of Hamilton.
One key project that we will be working on together this year is ensuring that our local law enforcement professionals have the support they need to serve all members of our community effectively in a context of care and respect. Cities across the nation have learned of the damage caused and pain felt when the relationship between law enforcement officials and the community they serve breaks down. Today, it is not adequate to react to issues and concerns as they arise, nor is it responsible to expect the citizens and the officers who are most likely to be affected by these issues to have the burden of identifying them when they occur. We must instead move together towards an ambitious and proactive plan for affirming and reinforcing a sense of trust and collaboration between the Hamilton Police Department and our campus community.
Before Chief Gifford departed at the end of July, he identified some steps that might be taken to improve communication, understanding and respect between the police department and the groups on campus who have raised specific concerns about law enforcement during the 2015-16 academic year. Along with several other ideas, he encouraged the review of procedures for reporting and reviewing possible instances of profiling as well as regular “coffee breaks” with small groups of students to casually discuss issues of police/student relations.
We will implement and expand on these initiatives, with the goal of making the Village of Hamilton, which includes the Colgate campus, a consistently inclusive and welcoming community. Given the national climate and our shared national history, this will sometimes be challenging work, requiring the best efforts and wisdom of all Hamiltonians, including Colgate students. But we can, and we must, undertake it.
As a first step we will create a working group that brings together members of the campus community (students, faculty, and staff) with members of the wider Village community. That group will review Chief Gifford’s recommendations, map out pressing concerns, and identify best first steps to take to secure the strong relationship between Hamilton police and all campus constituencies. This work is complex and challenging, even daunting. But progress is possible if, and only if, we work together.
We will update members of our shared community as we move forward, and will provide opportunities and mechanisms for those community members who would like to help shape this important work.
Sincerely,
Brian W. Casey, President
Robert McVaugh, Mayor, Village of Hamilton