MU faculty share concerns over public safety approach

University of Missouri faculty shared concerns about President Mun Choi’s approach to public safety at the general faculty meeting Tuesday.

Faculty primarily focused on homelessness during the public safety discussion. Choi shared slides from a presentation he made to the Columbia Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 17. They included images of homeless individuals sleeping downtown and quotes from community members Choi spoke to.

Lynelle Phillips is a professor for the Department of Public Health. She told Choi she appreciated his efforts to make Columbia safer, but interventions beyond law enforcement should be prioritized.

“There are some really hard-working, passionate people in this town trying to make our community more safe and help those that need the help,” Phillips said. “There's an organization called P.E.A.C.E. working with high-risk youth. We have the Opportunity [Campus] which is being built.”

Aminah Jenkins / KBIA

Choi said he hopes to explore potential community partnerships and encouraged faculty members to share possible solutions.

“Homeless individuals that need help should get the support, and we have so many charitable organizations that provide opportunities,” Choi said. “But we also have, based on our own evidence, repeat offenders that...accost our students, that verbally harass our students.”

Choi said the images from his presentation show a violation of Columbia’s public sleeping ordinance that city officials informed him about. However, the city does not currently have an explicit loitering ordinance.

Gun control advocacy

Choi was also asked if he plans to advocate for gun control laws in the state.

Rebecca Graves, a librarian at MU, raised concerns about how Choi was prioritizing public safety issues and asked if he could consider pushing for stronger gun control.

“Once a house burns down, having more fire departments doesn't help with that, and we do a lot of prevention,” Graves said. “Working on the homeless issue—housing, accessible housing, mental health, substance abuse, etc., and really, especially the gun control, because we all know that it is a weapons management issue.”

Choi seemed to dismiss the suggestion.

“In my eight years here, watching the politics in the state, I don't believe the gun laws are going to change,” Choi said.

Aminah Jenkins / KBIA

Graves responded, saying, “But criminalizing the homeless isn't going to stop the gun violence."

Several faculty members applauded.

Choi reiterated the need for collective and immediate action.

“There are 11 steps that we've identified, but the most important thing we put up first [is] more police officers [and] more foot patrol during peak hours, so that we can keep our community safe,” Choi said.

According to Choi, 27 officers were downtown this weekend from the Columbia Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Boone County Sheriff’s Department and the University of Missouri Police Department.