BALTIMORE — Students plan to stage a protest at Johns Hopkins University in north Baltimore as administrators plan to discuss the idea of a private police force during a public safety town hall meeting Thursday night.
It isn't the first time students have been vocal about their opposition to a police force on campus.
In May 2019, dozens of police officers were called to JHU to break up protests over plans to create an on-campus police force.
Several students were detained and handcuffed after staging a sit-in protest at Garland Hall, and chaining themselves inside the building.
Fast forward three years and now a group calling itself the Coalition Against Policing by Hopkins plans more protests.
The group tweeted out a message which reads “Emergency Action. We are holding die-ins to protest the Hopkins private police at the "town halls" JHU is hosting about its MOU with BPD. We are also calling for a shutdown of the town halls. #shutdownJHPD #NoHopkinsPolice.”
Earlier this week, the university released its Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Baltimore Police Department stating the force would be used to patrol the university's main Homewood campus in north Baltimore, its School of Nursing near Johns Hopkins Hospital in east Baltimore and the area around its fine arts conservatory, the Peabody campus in Mount Vernon.
RELATED: Johns Hopkins outlines responsibilities of proposed police force
Johns Hopkins University administrators plan to hold three town hall meetings for the community.
Thursday night’s meeting for the Homewood/Peabody campus communities is at 6 p.m. at Shriver Hall.
There will be a town hall for the east Baltimore community in the Turner Auditorium at the Johns Hopkins Medical campus, next Thursday, September 29 at 7 p.m.
Anyone who would like to attend to ask questions but can't make it to one of the town halls
There will be a virtual town hall via livestream at 1 p.m. on Friday, September 30.
All three of the town halls will be LiveStreamed online.
Click here for more information about the public safety town hall meetings.
