Emma Ambroziak / The Mossy Log
On the morning of Feb. 8, multiple police cars appeared on residential campus outside of Roberts Hall. But after several days without a direct response to the situation, some students began to speculate. Residents in the apartments were contacted by Jared Kasten, area director for Holmes, Hartzfeld and the apartments, but the email sent did not address the incident in specific terms. The email, subject line “Reminder of L&C Emergency Notification Policy,” discussed the use of the LC Alert system and acknowledged community concerns. But it did not answer all of the community’s questions about what had occurred to warrant the presence of police.
LC administrative officials made clear to The Mossy Log that the incident did not present danger to any students on campus. The school’s policies protect the privacy of students experiencing personal emergencies or crises, resulting in a lack of communication when such incidents occur. This policy, despite its obvious benefits, can have the unintended consequence of spurring rumors and uncertainty on campus.
Between multiple entities, it can be challenging to understand how incidents are handled. Police becoming involved in a situation can raise significant concerns for students about what is happening on campus, even if the incident does not pose a danger to students.
“I think with a small campus, word does travel fast,” said Kasten. “So I think (students) also expect that the college will be transparent and timely with what’s happening on campus. And I think that’s a very fair, normal expectation to have.”
Kasten reported that they frequently get questions from students, particularly those still residing on campus, related to rumored or witnessed incidents.
When an accident, emergency or crime occurs on campus, students involved may end up dealing with staff from Campus Living, Campus Safety and Portland Police. Campus Living is often the first line of response, dealing with student crises themselves and involving other resources as necessary. Campus Safety deals with more serious incidents, particularly when crime occurs. And if a situation escalates further, emergency services, medical and law enforcement may be called to campus to address the incident.
Director of Campus Safety Jeremy Ranft, appointed in December 2024, explaimed procedures for how and when local law enforcement is brought onto campus in an email statement on Feb. 26, following a Feb. 25 interview that included Assistant Dean of Students Jessica Carron and Associate Vice President of Campus Life Ben Meoz.
“When our Dispatch gets a call about an emergency situation, Campus Safety Officers (CSOs) respond to the location and are typically the first ones to show up to the scene,” Ranft said. “They will do an initial evaluation and determine if the situation is beyond the scope of their training. If it is beyond their scope of their training, they will notify dispatch to contact 911 so the appropriate external first responders can come to the scene to handle the emergency. At that point, the CSOs will continue to do what they can to assist, at their level, while coordinating with the external first responders to get them to the scene as quickly as possible.”
Emergency response procedures rely heavily on cooperation between police and Campus Safety officers. Portland Police Bureau’s Public Information Officer, Sergeant Kevin Allen, emphasized the importance of working together when responding to college campuses.
“It’s really important, I think, to have the same officers working the same districts all the time,” Allen said. “We really do emphasize the positive working relationship ahead of time so that when the emergency happens, we can be more effective.”
When police respond to an incident on campus, Campus Safety typically moves into a supporting role. Allen outlined the roles everyone plays in emergency situations, describing how Campus Safety officers help show emergency services where different buildings are on campus, or provide access to locked buildings when appropriate.
When police respond to an incident on campus, Campus Safety typically moves into a supporting role. Allen outlined the roles everyone plays in emergency situations, describing how Campus Safety officers help show emergency services where different buildings are on campus, or provide access to locked buildings when appropriate.
“We’re going to try and connect with (Campus Safety) first,” Allen said.
Given that LC’s campus is private property, there are also legal constraints on what police can do when they get here. Without exigent circumstances (i.e. when not responding to ongoing emergencies), they are bound by search and seizure laws and require warrants to enter certain areas. However, much of campus is also open to the public, so there are areas that are accessible to police without restriction.
“If we’re responding to a police call, we could go in there and move around as any member of the public could, especially in an emergency situation,” Allen said. “Hypothetically, (if) we believe that there was evidence of a crime in an office space or a dormitory room, that’s considered a private space, then we would have to get a warrant to enter that room.”
When police come to campus, it can lead to many questions from students about the situation, and it can be difficult for those who don’t know what is happening. Due to varying campus sentiments towards police and law enforcement, there have been fluctuating attitudes over the years when patrol cruisers are spotted on campus.
According to Carron, the LC community tends to be especially responsive to the broader moods and general societal attitudes in their outlook on campus matters.
“If there is a lot going on in Portland or in the country that might influence how we react to particular entities like the police. For example, students might want more information when they see police on campus, and then sometimes, it might be quieter and they want less,” Carron said.
Allen touched on this, acknowledging the need to balance information provided with the ability for police to effectively respond.
“Our first priority is to address any threats, and so there might be times when officers are getting inquiries from community members, and they don’t have time to really communicate what is going on,” Allen said. “We understand that if you see a bunch of police cars on your campus and uniformed police officers, that’s going to raise a level of concern. You’re going to want to know what’s going on, and so we will endeavor to provide basic information whenever possible.”
What gets reported on campus is not entirely discretionary. The Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act was passed in 1990, named for college student Jeanne Clery who was murdered in her dorm room. The law requires timely notification and communication to students and staff for a specific list of crimes when they occur on a college campus. Violent crimes, which would impact campus safety, make up much of the list, including assault, sex crimes and murder.
However, the Clery Act is constrained by privacy laws enjoyed by college students — namely, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),specifically its “Privacy Rule,” and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). While HIPAA is relatively limited in its impact, only protecting medical information from release, FERPA impacts the release of any identifying or personal information of a college student by their college. The same way parents cannot know grades without a major exception, in the event of emergency, campus and police notifications cannot directly identify the involved parties.
Multiple parties on campus are involved in determining what is communicated to students when an incident that the Clery Act does not cover occurs. Campus Safety, legal counsel and administration officials contribute to the discussion.
“You have to collaborate with a lot of people,” Kasten said. “I think one of the things that maybe students don’t always realize is there are a lot of laws that affect your privacy, and we want to take that all very seriously, and so a lot of times … some of those processes can take a little bit.”
Across the board, campus officials reflected the same sentiment — they cannot always reveal information to students, but they have no desire to keep anyone unnecessarily in the dark. Both Campus Safety and Campus Living representatives encouraged students to ask questions and provide feedback, under the understanding that legally, there is a limit to what can be shared.
“I’m eager to do whatever I can to bridge those gaps, and I’m open to suggestions as well,” Ranft said. “I feel it is important to have those healthy relationships so that me and my team do feel approachable. And yeah, there’s going to be times where we’re not going to be able to share information, but maybe I can share a little something to help gain a little more understanding.”
While the lack of immediate response can be difficult for some students, there are resources for following incidents on campus for those students who still worry in days or weeks to follow. As mandated by the Clery Act, Campus Safety records a crime log on their website that includes basic, non-identifying information about incidents on campus. The crime log was most recently updated by Campus Safety on Feb. 25, 2025, the same day The Mossy Log conducted interviews with Ranft, Meoz and Carron.
There are also yearly Clery Reports, a collection of crime statistics and information that students and any other interested party may read through at the end of each calendar year. The most recent Clery report available is for 2024.
“Generally, I feel like our student population has always been engaged and wanting to know what’s going on,” Carron said.
LC students are encouraged to stay in contact with the administration to continue to evolve campus approaches to emergency response and communication.
“Questions can highlight errors in our processes that we’re able to shore up or fix, that way we’re able to do better in the future,” Kasten said. “And so I would never want a student to be afraid to ask a question or bring up concern, because I think students, year over year, have great perspectives, and the reason why we’ve been able to improve over the last four years has really been thanks to a lot of feedback engagement from students.”
The small size of our campus and staff means that even if a student starts off in a place where they are not talking to the right staff member or office, they will be pointed there relatively easily.
“Don’t let reaching out to Campus Safety or reaching out to myself or the Vice President’s office be a barrier to getting the information you need. Reach out to who you feel comfortable with and I bet we’ll be able to help relieve some fears,” Carron said.
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