How a Clash Over ‘Safety’ Pitted a College President Against His Police Chief

Pete Caster

Campus police officers are supposed to make students feel safe. Last spring, amid protests, students at Evergreen State College began to see the the police as a threat. And George S. Bridges, the president, seemed to sympathize with them.

The clashes at Evergreen State, which made national news, marked the convergence of many current themes in higher education — particularly relating to how colleges struggle to make students of color feel welcome and supported. Does emotional safety matter as much as physical safety? Who gets to decide which is more important? When might the priorities of law enforcement be out of step with the values of a liberal-arts college?

During the spring, a rift began to open between Mr. Bridges and Stacy Brown, the campus police chief. Here’s a set of documents and video clips that show how tension built between the two officials as the campus fell deeper into disarray.

1. On May 23, Ms. Brown and another officer, Timothy O’Dell, responded to a tip that a professor had been “cornered” by student activists in an academic building. Outside the building, they encountered a wall of student protesters who refused to let them pass.

2. Later that day, Mr. Bridges summoned Ms. Brown to an impromptu meeting with student activists. He told her to come in street clothes, without her gun. Students interrupted, mocked, and berated the police chief.

3. When Mr. O’Dell filed his report on what happened that day, he noted that the president had “ordered” the police chief to “go against common practice” in meeting with the students unarmed and out of uniform.

4. The next day, activists occupied the president’s office, partly covering the windows and barricading some of the doors to the building with furniture. Mr. Bridges told Ms. Brown to keep her officers back. He said he felt safe among the protesters, and he seemed to see the police as as a liability. “If law enforcement were to come in,” the president later said, “there would be perhaps violence, perhaps damage to property, damage to the students.”

5. Videos of the protests made national news, and Ms. Brown faced criticism for allowing the situation to get out of control. She pleaded with President Bridges to voice his support for the campus police.

6. Finally, in early June, Ms. Brown wrote President Bridges a long letter explaining that she could no longer guarantee the safety of people on the campus. She suggested that Evergreen State close for the remainder of the academic quarter.

7. Several weeks after that, Ms. Brown and Mr. Bridges were called to testify before state lawmakers. The police chief said she would have handled things differently than the president did. Later in the summer, she resigned.

For the full story on Evergreen State’s meltdown, read our article.

Steve Kolowich writes about writes about ordinary people in extraordinary times, and extraordinary people in ordinary times. Follow him on Twitter @stevekolowich, or write to him at steve.kolowich@chronicle.com.