TSU letters over security show dueling priorities
Lawsuits over shootings show struggle to reconcile safety needs, budget cuts
A year before a string of campus shootings killed two men and injured several others in 2015, Texas Southern University police pleaded with then President John Rudley for more resources to handle increasing violence and active shooters.
Their letter citing multiple safety concerns and Rudley’s authoritarian response were revealed in lawsuits filed by the mother of a man killed at TSU and by a visitor injured by gunfire.
Lakeytrick Quinn, 24, died after being shot Aug. 25, 2015, in the parking lot of a dormitory on Blodgett. His mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Nov. 3. That same day, a negligence claim asserting “serious bodily injuries” was entered into the Harris County District Court by Jordan Schott, now 24. The aspiring firefighter was shot in the abdomen while attending a poetry reading with his girlfriend on Oct. 6, 2015.
Both lawsuits allege the rank-and-file police let-
ter gave Rudley and other TSU leaders “actual or constructive knowledge” of campus conditions that “posed an unreasonable risk of harm” and that officials “did not exercise reasonable care to reduce or eliminate the risk.”
Taft Foley, a graduate of TSU’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law and one of the lawyers representing the families, said he believes the university should be held responsible for not providing proper security.
“The lawsuits were filed to force Texas Southern University to do a better job of protecting the campus that I love and the students of my alma mater,” Foley said. “Someone has to take a stand or a change will not be made.”
A statement issued by the university declined to comment on pending legal matters, which also include an additional lawsuit filed in January by the mother of TSU freshman Brent Randall, an 18-yearold who was shot and killed outside the same Blodgett complex three days after Schott was shot.
‘Insurmountable’ stress
Rudley — who became president in 2008 and stepped down earlier this year — is not named individually in the lawsuits. Efforts last week to reach him for a statement were unsuccessful.
In an August 2014 letter to Rudley from unnamed individuals who collectively described themselves as TSU Police Department officers, sergeants and at least one 911 dispatcher said the group had “no confidence” in then-Police Chief Roger Byars and requested his removal. They accused Byars of failing to provide updated equipment and training. The letter also said the department’s poor reputation accounted for low retention rates, no applicants for openings and the prospect of facing the 2014-2015 academic year understaffed — particularly as security for student housing.
“As the university’s first responders, training is as important to officers as being properly equipped. The threat of an active shooter on campus is feared nationally,” the letter, which exceeded three pages, said. “The level of stress and responsibility placed on the officers remaining with the department is insurmountable. We are set up to fail.”
In a two-page response dated Oct. 1, 2014, Rudley thanked the letter-writers for their service to the uni- versity, then called them a “disgruntled group” who sought the police chief’s resignation for “petty” reasons that did not comport with the campus security plan. The president continued by reminding the group that the university had a $7 million shortfall because of federal grant cuts and student loan restrictions. Rudley also wrote that he believed the police department had been “thoroughly improved” under Byars.
‘Deliberate indifference’
His response exuded the tone of a frustrated president who felt underresourced, unappreciated and undermined in his seventh year of leading the university. He also enumerated security improvements completed prior to the budget crisis.
“We hired officers to man the security outpost at the dorms because when we arrived, the gangbangers had open access to every dorm,” Rudley’s letter said. “We closed streets and fenced in the campus; we invested in cameras throughout the campus; we invested in lighting; we even invested in uniforms and training to send an officer to the FBI training facility.”
Foley said the letters were cited in the lawsuits because they show Rudley had an opportunity to provide safety remedies a year before ongoing campus gunfire started.
“As a result of President Rudley’s deliberate indifference to the concerns expressed by campus police, a rash of shootings happened on that campus,” Foley said. “I believe that had President Rudley, campus officials and the Texas Southern University Board of Regents acted appropriately in responding to the letter written by police officers, these deaths and injuries could have been prevented.”
The university did respond to requests about campus safety changes since the fatal shootings.
TSU increased patrols around student housing. The university started a social media campaign to encourage crime reporting and launched a free personal safety mobile app for students, faculty and staff members to communicate discreetly with TSU safety officials, a statement said. Security officers now have Segways, the two-wheeled electric personal vehicles, to quickly travel the campus and there also are new signs identifying various gun-free zones.
Remon Green, the police department’s deputy chief who became the interim leader in November 2015, was appointed chief in late January.
New leadership
TSU President Austin Lane, who assumed campus leadership in June, released a statement that expressed sympathy over the deaths.
“We do ... want the public to know that we have made significant improvements in the area of campus safety and we will remain steadfast in our commitment to keep Texas Southern University a safe and secure environment for our students, faculty, staff and visitors,” he said.
Foley is hopeful that Lane will respond positively to current and future safety pleas from the TSU community.
“I am confident that he will do a much better job and he will listen to the concerns of his campus police officers,” the lawyer said.
As of Friday, the university had not filed responses to the newest lawsuits.