• norimee@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    And to think that you guys pay to be there. Imagine loading yourself with massive student debt for a place that stocks up on weapons as if its at war with you.

    They are right. I can’t wrap my head around it.

    • Omgarm@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I am glad my biggest worries as a student were if I wasn’t failing any classes and not how many weapons the university was buying to control the student body.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’m an Indiana University alum and my dad was a professor there. During the protests there, they had a fucking sniper on the roof. The protests were in a park next to the student union which had been used for protests since the Vietnam War. I was there in middle school in a shanty that was protesting the 1990s Gulf War. Now the new semester has started and there’s a chain link fence around the whole thing.

    The president just got a raise.

    Makes me fucking sick.

    Here’s the sniper:

    I used to climb up to that roof where that sniper is with friends when I was in high school to smoke weed, so that was a trip to see.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      I agree it’s insane what they do, but the sniper is needed with the direction we’ve gone. The sniper is there in case someone with a gun comes to kill protesters, not to kill protesters or they would have done it by now. They really are there for everyone’s safety. Now the guys on the ground who attack people or the guys firing pepper rounds/spray at protesters, they’re the ones we should be complaining about. The ones who are actually applying violence to protesters. The sniper may appear worse if you aren’t paying attention, but they’ve yet to actually shoot anyone, while protesters have been assaulted.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Nonsense. The sniper is part of the same police force as the one attacking protesters.

        Which side did the cops take when protesters in New York were attacked?

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          They are a part of the same police force. I’m not saying they’re good people. I’m saying this role is not one doing harm, and is actually useful until we get our shooting issue under control. You’ll see the same snipers at sporting events and anywhere else with a large gathering. They’re obviously not there for the protesters, but in case someone decides to do something to start killing others.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Why has there never been a sniper there before then? There’s a huge festival every year in that park with a huge number of students and non-students, including a lot of teenagers, with live bands playing on more than one stage. Never a sniper.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              2 months ago

              No Idea. My university did a yearly celebration as well and we for sure had snipers and guys with rifles walking around. If you know where to look, they’re at most large events. I can’t tell you about this location specifically, but it’s common.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                This is Bloomington, Indiana. Population 80,000. Police snipers aren’t generally a thing in towns that size.

                • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  I know when Bill Clinton gave a speech at UCF (Orlando) in 2012 there were snipers on most of the school’s roofs in the area. Can’t remember if I was getting out of work or getting out of class but he was giving a speech I believe to support Obama’s re-election. They were likely secret service, but they had their own police station and hospital on campus. I’m sure all of the training and certifications had to be funded by the state and reported like this. Robots to deploy for bomb threats were used pretty often, as people would report a suspicious backpack or such, rumor mill was always that there was exams in that building so you could get class canceled by anonymously reporting said backpack. It true, hell of a way to postpone an exam because you didn’t find time to study.

            • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Because gun violence is more of a risk than ever.

              Honestly I would feel better with the sniper there, so they could stop random nut who shows up with an assault rifle. Which is really sad.

  • zaphod@sopuli.xyz
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    2 months ago

    European here. “Pepper munitions” aren’t military weaponry as they’re banned for use in war by the Chemical Weapons Convention. This all reads like riot control stuff. The only weird thing is that american universities have their own police departments.

      • zaphod@sopuli.xyz
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        2 months ago

        Does that actually count as a police department or is that more like a private security company and they have to call the real police if anything happens?

            • wjrii@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Yeah, the idea of “train police” is actually perfectly sensible since it’s specialized and both the criminals and victims will be constantly transiting between jurisdictions. The fact that they’re actually owned by the railroads is a creepy legacy of the original gilded age plutocracy. I first learned about this when I saw the BNSF cops driving around Fort Worth with “Police” on the door instead of “Security” like I would have expected.

          • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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            2 months ago

            The more oddly specific the police force’s jurisdiction, the more scared to be if they take an interest in you.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Neither are the bean back rounds and launchers

      But yeah, this was a shock for me a few years after I graduated. My school made a big deal of “Campus Security” becoming spcertified as a police force “University Police”, but the only reason they ever gave was so they could carry guns.

      I’m not denying there may be a gun threat occasionally, but this was in a small university town, not near any cities. This was as safe a place as you could expect, and I’m sure almost all their calls were kids binging on new intoxicants, and kids fumbling through dating and relationships

    • CoCo_Goldstein@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Agreed. The “Pepper munitions” might be paint-ball style rounds shot from paint-ball style guns. I’m not sure in this case, but other police departments have had them. The grenade launchers are for tear gas grenades. Perhaps also flash-bang or stun grenades.

  • ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.place
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    2 months ago

    How is a private entity allowed to buy military grade weaponry to use against their students?

    Oh right… 'Merica. You guys have a problem with weapons, a problem no civilized country has. But then again, we’re not talking about a civilized country but a capitalism ruled country.

      • ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.place
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        2 months ago

        Because none of them are ruled by capitalism. Capitalism is their economic system, not their government system.

          • ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.place
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            2 months ago

            If they were ruled by capitalism, things like universal healthcare wouldn’t exist. Things are far from perfect in other countries, but there’s a huge leap between the US and other counties in terms of what capitalism is allowed to do in them.

            • ___qwertz___@feddit.org
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              2 months ago

              I think you are in the wrong here. Europe is definitely ruled by capitalism. What Americans don’t understand is that universal healthcare benefits capitalism, because the state makes sure your workers are healthy.

              Your employee is sick? State money is going to fix him up and pay (most) of the wage in the meantime.

            • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              But that has more to do with a lack of democratic accountability than with the way the economy works. In my opinion, what holds back the US the most is their completely insane election system.

              • ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.place
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                2 months ago

                That lack of accountability, imho, comes from capitalism dictating what democracy can do, and not the other way around. In other countries, democracy limits what capitalism can do, so it’s more or less subordinate to it.

                In the US, capitalism decides what democracy can do, so it’s actually democracy which is subordinated to capitalism.

    • HamsterRage@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      Don’t say, “against their students”, say, “against their customers”. Which makes it sound even more ridiculous.

    • Zoldyck@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Capitalism isn’t the problem.

      Edit: I would argue wealth inequality is the problem. You can have (a form of) capitalism and still fix wealth inequality.

      • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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        2 months ago

        Capitalism is a tool, used by 2000 people to rule the rest. Hierarchy is the problem. The idea that one person is better than the other.

        This idea needs to die already.

        But yes, money is a good tool to brainwash people into misunderstanding the worth of their work and their property. This „inflation“ treadmill is insane and makes you run faster in the hamster wheel while the rich dont work at all!

        And may the odds be ever in your favor.

      • Farid@startrek.website
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        2 months ago

        Capitalism may not be the problem, but “country being ruled by capitalism” definitely is.

      • bdonvrA
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        2 months ago

        It’s THE problem

      • nehal3m@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Capitalism will seek profits over all else. If that requires implementing corporatism as a form of government it will endeavour to do so. That is the point of the whole god damn thing.

        Capitalism is an extremely potent and powerful tool to create profits. Whatever else it does is incidental. If the food system can get away with creating a profit by making you eat sawdust then it will. All costs are externalised as much as possible and all profit is privatised as much as possible. This is not a bug but a feature.

  • cheddar@programming.dev
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    2 months ago

    “to escalate its warfare on its students”

    Yep, my mind doesn’t understand this phrase at all.

  • ManuLeMaboul@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The french gendarmerie recently received a new vehicle, it’s a tank equipped with a machine gun and 40mm grenade launcher. They’re deployed in our colony, Caledonia, to enforce an apartheid. They were also used against ecology protesters recently. Last year, a racist cop murdering a kip sparked revolts, anti-terorism units were deployed and shot kids with 12 gauge shotguns. It’s not just america, the rich and powerful are at war with the people everywhere.

    • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It’s not just america, the rich and powerful are at war with the people everywhere.

      The timing is so weird to me. Like they’ve been amassing riches and power for decades…why did they decide to escalate the conflict now? Do they really believe that a revolution is coming or something? They are continually winning a bloodless propaganda battle to keep accumulating wealth and let everyone else starve, yet they keep escalating things. It’s bizarre to behold.

      • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The inequality is worse than it has been in over a century, people are living closer to the edge than ever, employers are taking the piss at this point, and climate change is beginning to sting. All this is to say that it’s not just the workers feeling the pinch - it’s the petite bourgeoisie too. That scares capital enough to arm themselves more, but not enough to start making concessions.

  • rtxn@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    “American universities turn into concentration camps” was not on my bingo card for 2024.

  • Zip2@feddit.uk
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    2 months ago

    Not American so not up to speed on what’s going on…

    Are these students that are protesting doing it with tanks, machine guns, grenades, planes? Are they being at all non-peaceful? Has anyone been killed?

    Aren’t they protesting about the arms supplied to Israel and being used against Gazans?

  • N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    PR rules the world. Can’t allow free speech and protest if it might draw attention.

    Better to show overwhelming military force on domestic college students at the first sign of protest. Keep it from spreading.

  • Arthur Besse@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    UC Merced annual training required only 7 rounds, while UC San Francisco used 7000 and UC Santa Barbara used 9000 🤔

    Shoutout to UC Davis for having the only police department on the list who “did not use any military equipment during this timeframe”.

    For some reason the linked PDF varies from the screenshot in several ways, though most of the numbers are the same. (UC Riverside’s number of rounds of .556-range ammunition used in training is 3000 in the screenshot but 6000 in the PDF now.)

    I was curious how much this launcher costs:

    screenshot of PDF linked by OP, saying Requests For Category 14 – Kinetic Energy Weapons and Munitions • UCLA is requesting to purchase (4) FN Herstal 303 launchers, (4) Pepper Ball VK-SBL, (3,000) FTC Pava Capsaicin Rounds, (100) Rounds of Def-Tec 40mm munitions (Model #6320) and (300) rounds of Def-Tec 40mm munitions (Model #6325).

    … over here I see this glorified paintball gun is normally $2400 but currently on sale for just $1850.

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Acceptance rate:

      UC San Fran: 13%

      UC Santa Barbara: 28%

      UC Merced: 88%

      They are completely different schools. So it would be hard to get a perspective by just the numbers of municians purchased. What they teach, how prestigious they are, how many students attend, the size of the campus I’m sure all have impact. San Fran I believe is mostly a graduate school.

      It’s crazy that they buy any arms, but as your own information would indicate, training/certifications to maintain their police officers is the majority use. UC Davis is who has the famous picture of a police officer spraying students sitting on the ground with pepper spray a few years ago. Makes me curious if they outsourced their police officers after that event to try to move the blame off of them in future incidents.