The arming of Brandeis police officers will most likely begin in late spring or early summer, according to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan. Currently, Brandeis public safety officers are being trained in the use of firearms, Callahan wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. No officers have been armed yet.

"Training has been underway for weeks and is presently ongoing," Callahan wrote.

University President Jehuda Reinharz reached the decision to arm campus police last September based on the recommendations of a committee of students, faculty and staff that convened over the summer. Student opinion on the decision is sharply divided, and Reinharz announced the formation of a firearms advisory committee responsible for writing policies involving the arming of campus police last November following a student protest during his office hours.

The officers will not be armed until there is a set policy in place, said Matt Rogers '08, one of the students on the firearms advisory committee the first meeting of which took place last Thursday.

According to Callahan, training will entail the same procedures as firearms training for the Waltham police officers. "This includes, among other things classroom, range and simulation exercises," Callahan wrote.

Student, faculty and staff representatives of the committee attended last Thursday's meeting, Rogers said. During the meeting, committee members "discussed the beginning of a possible policy, but nothing by any means [was] set in stone," Rogers said. The committee is drafting a wide range of policies regarding the arming of campus police, he added.

Callahan said that the policy will attempt to address student concerns which have been raised about this controversial decision.

"We'll be making sure that the committee addresses all the concerns that the students have," Rogers said. There have been varied student responses to this policy, Callahan wrote, and "as always it is important to maintain open channels of communication with all community members."

The next meeting of the firearms advisory committee will be Tuesday, March 4, Rogers said, and will consist of presentations by experts about comparable policies on other campuses. In order to best represent student opinion to the committee, "we're looking to have a forum before our next meeting," Rogers said.