Presenter: Flynn James Fatur

Faculty Sponsor: Brenda K. Bushouse

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Crime and Justice

Session: Poster Session 1, 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM, Auditorium, A58

ABSTRACT

This project examines how differing police responses to campus protests impact students’ crime reporting behavior. In the Spring of 2024, students protested on campuses across the United States against war in the Palestinian Territories. Nationwide, university administrations used campus and/or local and state law enforcement to forcibly remove and arrest students at demonstrations. Previous studies, such as Drolc and Shoub’s (2024) analysis of citizen-initiated contact with police in Los Angeles neighborhoods, demonstrate that police violence reduces community trust in law enforcement and causes civic disengagement. Campus crime reporting indicates willingness to engage with campus authorities within higher education communities (Cheng and Liu, 2018). However, did the 2024 police actions on campus impact students' willingness to engage with campus police? This research addresses a gap in study of policing dynamics specific to campus protest. I hypothesize that instances of violent intervention/protest repression will be associated with reduced crime reporting. The study is a comparative case analysis of publicly available crime reporting trends at eight public R1 research institutions: four had protests that ended in arrests, and four allowed demonstrations to proceed or were dispersed nonviolently. In addition to quantitative trend data, I contextualize each university through policy documents and media coverage. The study concludes with implications for police-civilian interactions and community trust in campus police as part of higher education administration.