Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan dismissed rumors circulating among students that University Police officers are in possession of red decoy guns to test student response before they obtain real guns. "This rumor is incorrect and certainly not funny. I neither know nor have heard anything about the matter," Callahan said, calling such a claim upsetting and discomforting. He stated that "this is not a question about arming the officers. It is a question of how we properly implement the arming process."

University President Jehuda Reinharz's decision to arm campus police last September followed the recommendation of a firearms committee composed of faculty, staff and students under the supervision of Chief Operating Officer Peter French. Student opinion has been sharply divided on the issue. Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09, Fanny Familia '09 and Matthew Rogers '08 have been advocating for students' inclusion on a firearms advisory committee that governs the policies in the process of arming the officers.

The advisory committee has an upcoming status meeting this month. The intention of this forum is to advise officers-in-training before they are armed.

Callahan explained the firearms committee, specifically the student representatives, was responsible for relaying information to students. He indicated that rumors could not have circulated from the committee. He added that "75 to 85 percent of the arming process has been initiated from the president's decision." Callahan stated that he is intent on tracking the source of these rumors.

Sinha acknowledged that she had heard the rumors involving the red dummy guns, calling them "incorrect in every sense about them."

"These kinds of reactions are unsafe in the sense of promoting safety," Sinha said. "Such ideas throw fear into the public, these rumors are not to be taken as gospel."

"We wish to build relationships in the community by allowing students to ask questions involving the arming," she said.

Founder of the now-defunct club Students Opposed to the Decision to Arms, Ben Serby '10, who said he has not heard the rumors, feels differently about Sinha's claim of student representation.

Despite protests at various forums, Serby said "the Student Union representatives would not take us as seriously as we would have liked and simply discounted our proposals as unrealistic." Serby implied that the reason SODA is defunct is due to the fact that the club felt the Student Union did not take it as seriously as it would have liked.