Spring Break
URI Student Senate presidential tickets go head-to-head on issues in debate
Jeff Sullivan
Issue date: 2/25/09 Section: News
02/25/09 - Student Senate Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates sparred over major issues, including arming campus police and the orange sticker policy during last night's two-hour senate debate.
The debate was held in the Memorial Union Atrium for the presidential and vice presidential nominees of the senate.
Current Senate Vice President David Bedard and Senate Treasurer Vidhi Shah debated against Cultural Affairs Chairman Maxwell Adepoju and Student Organization Advisory Committee Chair Amanda Clarke. They presented their future goals and opinions on current issues for University of Rhode Island to a crowd of about 40 people.
One of the more contentious topics included the current discussion as to whether URI police officers should be able to carry guns.
Bedard said he believes campus police should be armed, but with limits. One limit would be that only certain officers should be able to carry guns at certain times, or that guns should be kept in the police station and not on regular campus patrols. He said he did not want to rush judgment on the issue, but at this point he believes arming police in some form should be enacted.
"In my opinion, they are doing … pretty much the same job as the South Kingstown Police officers do, and [South Kingstown police] are armed," Bedard said. "It does not necessarily have to be a … firearm, but we can't send these officers into a situation where we may perceive it to be harmless and it turns violent with nothing at all on them. Cops aren't just whipping their guns out for no reason, they are protecting themselves from people that have weapons of their own."
Bedard said such a situation has not been an issue in past years at URI, but that one may never know when a student could snap and commit a violent act necessitating the use of potential lethal force.
"It's a very difficult decision," he said. "You have to really hash out all the pros and cons to it before you rush to judgment, and make sure everyone is involved in a decision of that magnitude."
The debate was held in the Memorial Union Atrium for the presidential and vice presidential nominees of the senate.
Current Senate Vice President David Bedard and Senate Treasurer Vidhi Shah debated against Cultural Affairs Chairman Maxwell Adepoju and Student Organization Advisory Committee Chair Amanda Clarke. They presented their future goals and opinions on current issues for University of Rhode Island to a crowd of about 40 people.
One of the more contentious topics included the current discussion as to whether URI police officers should be able to carry guns.
Bedard said he believes campus police should be armed, but with limits. One limit would be that only certain officers should be able to carry guns at certain times, or that guns should be kept in the police station and not on regular campus patrols. He said he did not want to rush judgment on the issue, but at this point he believes arming police in some form should be enacted.
"In my opinion, they are doing … pretty much the same job as the South Kingstown Police officers do, and [South Kingstown police] are armed," Bedard said. "It does not necessarily have to be a … firearm, but we can't send these officers into a situation where we may perceive it to be harmless and it turns violent with nothing at all on them. Cops aren't just whipping their guns out for no reason, they are protecting themselves from people that have weapons of their own."
Bedard said such a situation has not been an issue in past years at URI, but that one may never know when a student could snap and commit a violent act necessitating the use of potential lethal force.
"It's a very difficult decision," he said. "You have to really hash out all the pros and cons to it before you rush to judgment, and make sure everyone is involved in a decision of that magnitude."
