By Matt Hirsch
BC President Michelle Anderson brought up a recent increase in “conflict” across campus during the last Faculty Council meeting on Mar. 15. In response to the situation, the Safety Review Board is developing de-escalation training for all members of the Brooklyn College community.
“With more people returning this semester to teach, learn, and work onsite, the College seeks to help people cope with a range of feelings they may experience as they return to campus,” said BC Media Relations Manager, Rich Pietras, in a statement to The Vanguard. “The Office of Diversity and Equity Programs offers free trainings that include information about how to de-escalate conflict, which started in January and will continue until May.” The Safety Review Board was established at the recommendation of Chief Diversity Officer Anthony Brown and the Implementation Team for Racial Justice.
The training programs are meant to help BC community members “manage stressful situations, as well as address issues of race, religion, gender, disability, and other protected classes that may arise,” according to Pietras.
President Anderson noted that an area where conflict seems to be most present is at the campus gates. She said the gates “present their own opportunities for conflict.” At the moment, all students, staff, and faculty are required to show their Brooklyn College Digital ID with a green key icon or an Everbridge vaccination pass to enter campus.
Notably, now that CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez has ended the mask mandate, President Anderson said there should be “no shaming” of students, faculty, and staff who choose to forego their masks. The signs on campus reflecting the old mandatory mask policy will be removed with new signage that encourages masking but affirms that it isn’t mandatory. Though the transition back to in-person learning has created an increase in conflict on campus, not all students have noticed the issue.
“I haven’t seen any conflict on campus. Everyone’s pretty nice, to me, at least,” said BC student Luis Flecha. “I haven’t seen anybody argue, everyone’s just walking.”
Despite this increase in conflict, there haven’t been any reports made to campus safety’s daily crime log since last October. Any issues around campus haven’t been severe enough to warrant campus security intervention.
Director of Campus Security and Public Safety Donald Wenz did not respond to The Vanguard’s request for comment in time for publication.