Policing the College Campus: History, Race, and Law

Authors

Vanessa Miller, University of Florida Levin College of LawFollow
Katheryn Russell-Brown, University of Florida Levin College of LawFollow

Abstract

The structure, impact, and historical roots of campus policing on the American college campus receives little academic attention. In fact, campus policing is often overlooked in legal analyses and research studies, including its relationship to race. Campus policing and race deserves a critical assessment from legal scholars because race is fixed to the ways the criminal-legal system presents itself on campus. The racialized implications of policing on campus are rooted in historical social and legal contexts that still exist today. However, the lack of research on campus policing is not surprising. American colleges and universities have successfully marketed themselves as academic enclaves situated away from the crime-riddled masses and as antithetical to the criminal-legal system. Despite this framing, American colleges and universities routinely resource their on-campus police departments and collaborate with law enforcement agencies to police and surveil students and the surrounding community. This article serves as an introduction to the historical, legal, and policy issues concerning campus policing and race.

Recommended Citation

Vanessa Miller and Katheryn Russell-Brown, Policing the College Campus: History, Race, and Law, 29 Wash. & Lee J. Civ. Rts. & Soc. Just. 59 (2023).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj/vol29/iss3/4