Berklee College Apologizes For Letting Police Officers Use Restrooms During Protests, Bans Cops

Boston Police Department officers won’t be allowed inside the buildings of the Berklee College of Music after the school issued an apology over allowing some cops to use its restroom facilities during a George Floyd protest on May 31.

The college’s president, Roger Brown, wrote a joint statement Wednesday (June 10) with the financial officer, Mac Hisey, and the institution’s public safety chief, David Ransom, announcing the decision to ban the police. The officials also distanced the school from perceptions that the institution does not support the Black Lives Matter movement or that they allowed the campus to be a staging ground for the Boston Police while a protest against cop brutality and racism was taking place on the streets.

“Boston Police of course have jurisdiction over the roads and other public spaces around our campus, but not inside our buildings,” the officials said. “The decision to allow them into our facilities was ours. This was not a formal decision by the institution, but an informal one, made on the spot.”

Most of Berklee College’s public facilities have been closed for months amid safety and health precautions against the coronavirus. Somehow, the students learned they allowed the cops to use the restrooms, and they accused school officials of giving the police special treatment, according to Boston.Com.

"We are deeply sorry for the impact this had on our community and for perpetuating feelings of oppression, silencing, and marginalization," the officials said in the statement. "We will make a more concerted effort to consider the effects of our actions.”

Brown, Hisey and Ransom also assured the college community this "will not happen again."

The ban and apology, however, was not welcomed by the Massachusetts Association for Professional Law Enforcement. Dennis Galvin, the association’s president and a former state police major, said the “overreaction” will just affect the community’s relationship with the police.

"If the object here is to improve policing, that statement is completely irrational,” Galvin said, per the Boston Herald. He said that the school officials’ letter “played with people’s emotions” that could incite war with the cops.