PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State University Board of Trustees met for the first time since the fatal shooting by campus police last summer of 45-year-old Jason Washington.
And they heard from a lot of people calling for the university to disarm its police.
Washington was shot nine times by two campus officers as he tried to break up a fight in late June. According to police reports, Washington, who had a concealed carry permit, was carrying his friend's gun when it fell to the ground during the commotion. When Washington picked up the gun, both officers yelled for him to drop it and warned they would shoot him, the police report said. Then they opened fire.
A grand jury cleared the officers of wrongdoing.
But the audience at the Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday blamed the officers, and the board, for letting them have guns in the first place four years ago. And they’re demanding officers be disarmed immediately.
A professor who spoke is one of a majority of faculty who disapproved of arming campus officers in 2014.
“We are watching now and we will be watching for a very long time, and I want to say with great love for this institution it is within your power to do the right thing and to do it now, disarm PSU," he said.
The vice chair of the volunteer board offered condolences to the Washington family, and a promise to keep an open mind. But the board wasn't going to decide anything on Thursday.
“We do not want to rush toward a final decision, that is why we want to listen to you today. That is why PSU has contracted with two independent experts to conduct two separate reviews,” said Gale Castillo.
But for many in the crowd, that wasn’t good enough. Not only did they call for officers to be disarmed, they wanted the officers involved in the shooting to be fired. The third demand was that the university builds a permanent memorial to Jason Washington on campus.
“Somebody died on PSU police’s watch when this community has been telling you for years…that this would be the exact situation we would find ourselves in,” said Olivia Pace, a PSU Student Union organizer.