Campus Security

by Jennifer Doyle

Each administrative digest of "an incident" fracks an encounter between subjects to convert an outrage into a policy. Anger is turned into violence; violence is turned into administrative process. University resources -- time, energy, thought and compassion -- are absorbed by a managerial world averse to the inter-personal, lateral and dynamic work of education. The latter is full of risk. The classroom is the university's soft flesh. [back cover]

This pamphlet was part of Semiotext(e)'s boxed set of pamphlets produced for the Whitney Museum of Art's 2014 Biennial.

40 pages

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

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Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

In November 2011 University of California-Davis Police Department employees "tased" students protesting increases in the State University system's tuition. There was the usual harumphing about it, and investigation, and white paper report, and near-complete exoneration of the security personnel. Jennifer Doyle looks back through the documents. It's a narrative of the event, plus analysis, a critical tour de force. Academics will recognize that the securitization of the campus is the theme of our time, the annexation of in loco parentis (analogous to battle field privatization). The student is pictured "Seated, heads tucked behind their arms -- is this not the posture of today's student? Brace position." Into the fray: the 'non-affiliate' -- or, as Charles Olson saw it: the collegium.