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UMich professor runs anti-police ‘lab’ as campus crime continues

The University of Michigan continues to host a “research lab” that supports defunding and abolishing the campus police even in the face of ongoing crime problems.

Former College Fix reporter and University of Michigan alumnus Charles Hilu detailed the situation in a recent article for The Washington Free Beacon.

“In the last month and a half alone, University of Michigan students have faced two shootings and five sex crimes, including one that occurred inside a campus building,” Hilu wrote. “That hasn’t stopped the school from hosting a project that works towards the elimination of campus police.”

The Campus Abolition Research Lab is run by Professor Charles Davis, who also teaches education courses.

Hilu wrote:

As part of that effort, the lab publishes a “#PoliceFreeCampus Podcast” and hosts campus events that teach students how to become “campus abolitionists.” Davis in recent weeks has also reiterated the need to abolish police “now.” Davis and his lab have not, however, commented on the recent crime wave that has plagued his university’s campus.

Davis (pictured) has not necessarily been effective in his work, Hilu notes. “So far, the university has not adopted its Abolition Research Lab’s suggestions and has instead used the Ann Arbor Police Department and its own armed campus security force to respond to the crimes.”

And the professor has acknowledged some potential problems with his beliefs.

The article noted:

It’s unclear how Davis, who did not return a request for comment, would aim to combat shootings and sex crimes should the campus become “police free.” Davis has in some cases acknowledged that his abolitionist ideas are more theoretical than practical. During a recent episode of his lab’s “#PoliceFreeCampus Podcast,” Davis said that while abolition skeptics may ask for “solutions,” he doesn’t “have all of them.”

He also referred to his research as an “exercise of imagining,” the Free Beacon reported.
Read the full article.

MORE: GWU moves forward with arming campus police

IMAGE: University of Michigan

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