Brandywine Students and Campus Police: Bridging the Gap—Part Three 

Will Goldsborough, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, wag5162@psu.edu  

This is the third of a three-part series where we speak with students, police, faculty and staff from Penn State Brandywine to ascertain their perspectives on police-citizen-community relations.  

Penn State Brandywine faculty and staff acknowledge students’ feelings toward police but believe their off-campus interactions or observances may cloud their perceptions of on-campus police.  

The strained relationship between law enforcement and some members of society writ large is a tale as old as time. However, when it comes to policing on college campuses, the population for which those in blue serve and protect, is not congruent. Thus, Brandywine faculty and staff encourage students to separate the two and hold Penn State Brandywine Police Sergeant Falesha Ghee and her officers accountable for their actions.  

Brandywine Associate Teaching Professor Dr. Joshua Phillips is a staunch proponent of students voicing their frustrations with any arm of the government, like the Brandywine Police Department. Dr. Phillips says, “Police officers are public servants, and the role of citizenship and being engaged in a democratic process is to learn about the institutions that run your city. If you are frustrated with any institution, then your job is to interact or engage with that institutional wing of the government.”  

 Addressing the issue of students not calling the police if they are the victims of a crime on campus, Dr. Phillips encourages students to stop distancing themselves from police officers, saying, “If a student is afraid to go to the police if they are the victim of a crime, then interact with the police before you become the victim of a crime because if you have a (previously) good relationship with them, (then) if you do become the victim of a crime, now you know who they are.” 

Brandywine faculty and staff praise the on-campus police, and Sgt. Ghee specifically, for holding events so that students can engage with them to create a relationship, build rapport, and establish a level of comfort between the two parties.  

 Assistant Director of Student Equity & Inclusion Programming Eliel Acosta believes it is important for students to take advantage of these opportunities. Acosta says, “These events allow students to have a voice about what policing looks like. I think it would be valuable to have the difficult conversations and make the necessary changes to policing on campus.”  

 Before this series of articles, Brandywine Director of Student Affairs Brad Kovaleski was unaware of the feelings articulated by some Brandywine students. Kovaleski ponders, “Are they (students) taking their off-campus perceptions and bringing them to campus? Are they taking what they believe police are (like) external to Penn State and applying it to their campus experience?” 

 Kovaleski admits he does not have the answer to his self-imposed question but says, “If the students are having these feelings here (on-campus), we want to take them as valid and address them. We don’t want to pretend it doesn’t exist here and ‘excuse away’ what could be a reality.” 

 Kovaleski offers this advice for any Brandywine student that has any hesitation interacting with the police, “Student Affairs is the conduit. Students can come to me or anyone on the Student Affairs team because we are the bridge to help start the conversation.” Kovaleski says, “We can help mend that initial hurt from past experiences and be a conduit for mediation so all parties can build from it.” 

 Kovaleski emboldens students to seek other avenues for affecting change, saying, “We have student leadership opportunities like student government because if the students feel wrong is at a high enough level, student government could be an advocate.” 

 Finally, Kovaleski believes students have the right or appropriate person in place as the Brandywine police supervisor in Sgt. Ghee, saying, “Sgt. Ghee has gone out of her way to make herself available to all clubs and organizations, to be seen in the dining halls, to be present walking through the campus. She charges her team to be out and about, interact and communicate with the students and she role-models this charge; I’ve even seen her hug students that’s come up to her.” 

 With that, maybe, at the end of the day, a hug is all we need to help bridge the gap.