By Sabrina Betterly
News Editor

KU has been facing controversy as a KU police officer, Alan Swartz, has been found to have posted and shared racist and islamophobic content, as well as other posts supporting the capitol insurrection and government conspiracies on his personal public Facebook account.

This first came to light on Feb. 4 when a local activist group, kuactivists (KUA), posted snapshots on their Instagram page of the many posts they’ve found on Swartz’s account.

“How can we trust the KUPD to protect Kutztown University students if they hire officers who post things like this publicly? This man poses a severe safety threat to our community,” said KUA in one of their posts.

KUA has also posted multiple students’ anonymous allegations regarding mistreatment at the hands of the KUPD, which has garnered attention from the KU student body after the initial post about Swartz came out.

KUA has created a petition on Change.org where they state that they want the removal of any KU officers who show bias against the student body, including Swartz, as they say in the petition, “…this officer is not a person who should be allowed to protect students whom he may have a bias against.” 

On Feb. 5, KU Relations released a statement to faculty, students and staff in which they say the situation is under review, but KUA believes this is not enough, asking KU to do more than just send out an email.

On their Instagram page on Monday, Feb. 8, the group requested a meeting with President Hawkinson, Dean McCargo, and Chief Dillon to publicly address the lack of action against the KUPD. 

KUA has not posted any updates regarding a response from the university as of Tuesday, Feb. 9.

KUA and many other students are awaiting a response to address the situation, and as of now, it’s not known what actions will be taken toward Swartz or about other allegations regarding the KUPD.