University administrators apologize for Blue Lives Matter emblem, face calls to fire campus safety officer

Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, has issued an apology after one of its campus security officers displayed a Blue Lives Matter emblem during a Zoom meeting on diversity.

According to a Thursday report from Campus Reform, students called for the college to fire the security officer in question.

What are the details?

Following the outcry, several of the university's administrators sent an email to the campus community saying that the incident "damaged the trust and faith" placed in the higher learning institution.

The school, in its message, said that the Blue Lives Matter emblem — also referred to as the Thin Blue Line — is "widely considered an effort to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement."

"The assistant director of Campus Safety Services (CSS) participated in the event with a postcard on a bookshelf behind him that is widely considered to be an effort to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement and its universally important goals," a portion of the message read.

"We deeply apologize for this incident and the hurt it has caused," the administration added in its message.

What else?

The outlet reported that the school's College Republicans group said that the Santa Clara Multi-Cultural Center shared on its Instagram page a post from another group that said the postcard in question is also a "white supremacist icon" and an "anti-black symbol."

The very same post called for the safety officer to be fired.

"In regards to the events that took place at the end of our forum, we would like to apologize," the center said. "As a council, we overestimated the ability of the invited administrators to create and maintain a safe space necessary for BIPOC students. SCU has committed to being an 'anti-racist' institution, and from the actions demonstrated last night, this is clearly not the case."

Eoan Harrison, who is president of the school's chapter of College Republicans, told the outlet the group is "disappointed" with the university for labeling the apparently innocuous incident as one of "hatred."

"Santa Clara University College Republicans is firm in its support of our police officers and law enforcement," Harrison said in a statement on the matter. "We are ashamed of the university for their response to this incident. It is regrettable that SCU is choosing to label supporters of police officers racists."

The school has not announced the fate of the officer in question at the time of this reporting, but declined to comment on the matter, saying it was a "personnel matter."