Campus Police

Four hundred black students sat down on North Broad Street at Temple University for an hour and blocked traffic yesterday afternoon in a rally to protest what they said was the beating of eight black students Thursday by white campus police officers. Delivering impassioned pleas for racial justice and an end to what they said was police violence, the students demanded the resignation of the campus police chief and the firing of officers they allege used excessive force during a brawl between white fraternity members and black students.

The ousted police chief of Rutgers University in Camden has asked the school to schedule a hearing to explain his Oct. 2 firing and has notified Rutgers of his intention to take legal action over the discharge. Eugene Dooley, whose work had been praised by the university a few months before his termination, said yesterday that he expected to appear for a hearing within about two weeks. Dooley's attorney, Gil Brooks, said Dooley wasn't informed by the university of any wrongdoing and was not disciplined or suspended before the firing by Gary Urban, the director of administrative services.

It may be hard to believe, but Temple University's campus security force is the fourth-largest police department in Pennsylvania. And, until last week - when it became the focal point of a protest by African-American students - it had enjoyed a reputation as a highly trained, responsible police department, according to city, university and union officials. "We have, in my opinion, a very strong and effective working relationship with the Temple police," said Capt. Al Lewis, commander of the 22nd Police District, which patrols neighborhoods around the North Philadelphia campus.

Oakland A's slugger Jose Canseco was arrested yesterday after a University of California employee spotted a loaded semi-automatic pistol on the floor of Canseco's Jaguar. Canseco, last year's American League Most Valuable Player and the first major-leaguer to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases the same season, was arrested about 2 p.m. outside the Laurel Heights complex of the University of California at San Francisco, police said. Canseco was booked on suspicion of possessing a firearm on university property, a felony, and possession of a loaded firearm in the passenger compartment of a vehicle, a misdemeanor.

MOBILE, Ala. - A nude University of South Alabama freshman had taken LSD and assaulted others before he chased the campus police officer who fatally shot him, authorities said Tuesday, though the student wasn't armed and didn't touch the officer. Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran said at a news conference that Gil Collar, 18, took the potent hallucinogen during a music festival Saturday before assaulting two people in vehicles and attempting to bite a woman's arm. Authorities said Collar then went to the campus police headquarters, where he was shot by university police officer Trevis Austin.

By Monday, the Willingboro School District will have the first component of a plan to curb school violence in place at Memorial Junior High School. Surveillance cameras are being installed in the hallways and stairwells. The next step could come this fall if the board of education approves implementing a campus police force at both the junior high school and Willingboro High School. In meetings later, the Willingboro Board of Education will review a proposal to hire four trained police officers - two in the junior high school and two in the high school - to provide security on school grounds and combat student violence.

Temple University sent an advisory to students and staff today informing them that police are investigating a graffiti threat found in a bathroom last month that mentioned the April 20 anniversary of the deadly shootings at Columbine High School. Ray Betzner, a university spokesman, said Temple Police have been investigating since a student reported finding the message scrawled in a men's room stall in Gladfelter Hall several weeks ago. "Recent news reports have raised concerns about safety at Temple University," the advisory from Temple Police began.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - New questions confronted the University of Colorado, Denver on Friday amid disclosures that a psychiatrist who treated theater-shooting suspect James Holmes had warned campus police a month before the deadly assault that Holmes was dangerous and had homicidal thoughts. Court documents made public Thursday revealed Dr. Lynne Fenton also told a campus police officer in June that the shooting suspect had threatened her. Fenton's blunt warning came more than a month before the July 20 attack at a movie theater that killed 12 and injured 70. Holmes had been a student in the university's neuroscience program but withdrew about six weeks before the shootings after failing a key examination.

Within days, Temple University hopes to place blame for last week's brawl that involved fraternity brothers, suspected vandals, students and campus police, a university spokeswoman says. For now, the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity has been temporarily suspended and four campus police officers have been removed from patrol duty until the probe is complete. Temple spokeswoman Kathy Gosliner said yesterday the campus security chief and dean of students plan to finish the investigation within days and present the findings to Temple President Peter Liacouras.

State police yesterday filed criminal charges against 37 Lincoln University students for their involvement in a melee last fall that left 17 people injured. On the evening of Sept. 28, the Lincoln University campus in Lower Oxford, Chester County, erupted into sporadic episodes of violence involving more than 50 current or former students, state police from Troop J barracks in Lancaster said after a seven-month investigation. The charges filed yesterday before District Justice Harry Farmer in Oxford included aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and criminal mischief.

Temple University sent an advisory to students and staff Friday informing them that police were investigating a graffiti threat found in a bathroom last month that mentioned the April 20 anniversary of the deadly shootings at Columbine High School. Ray Betzner, a university spokesman, said Temple police had been investigating since a student reported finding the message scrawled in a men's room stall in Gladfelter Hall several weeks ago. "Recent news reports have raised concerns about safety at Temple University," the advisory from Temple police began.

Temple University sent an advisory to students and staff today informing them that police are investigating a graffiti threat found in a bathroom last month that mentioned the April 20 anniversary of the deadly shootings at Columbine High School. Ray Betzner, a university spokesman, said Temple Police have been investigating since a student reported finding the message scrawled in a men's room stall in Gladfelter Hall several weeks ago. "Recent news reports have raised concerns about safety at Temple University," the advisory from Temple Police began.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - New questions confronted the University of Colorado, Denver on Friday amid disclosures that a psychiatrist who treated theater-shooting suspect James Holmes had warned campus police a month before the deadly assault that Holmes was dangerous and had homicidal thoughts. Court documents made public Thursday revealed Dr. Lynne Fenton also told a campus police officer in June that the shooting suspect had threatened her. Fenton's blunt warning came more than a month before the July 20 attack at a movie theater that killed 12 and injured 70. Holmes had been a student in the university's neuroscience program but withdrew about six weeks before the shootings after failing a key examination.

PITTSBURGH - A federal judge in Pittsburgh has dismissed lawsuits by three former Duquesne University basketball players who sued the school, claiming it was responsible when two men shot them after an on-campus dance in 2006. U.S. District Judge David Cercone's ruling says the school is not responsible for the pain, damages, and loss of income claimed by Shawn James, Stuard Baldonado, and Kojo Mensah. They were three of five players wounded in the shooting on Sept. 17, 2006, following a dance sponsored by the Black Student Union.

It's a parent's nightmare. And four Temple University students lived it Monday night, when three armed men forced their way inside an off-campus apartment in North Philadelphia, bound the women in duct tape, and fled with computer equipment, cellphones, credit cards, and cash. The students were not physically hurt. But the incident revived fears of dangers that lurk near the city's campuses, and offered an unsettling echo of incidents in which armed men invaded students' apartments near Temple and Drexel University.

The widow of Joe Paterno defended her late husband Monday as a moral man who would have acted forcefully had he known about early child sexual-abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky. "If he knew in 2001 what he learned in 2011, yes, he would have done more," Sue Paterno said during an ABC interview with Katie Couric in which she made her first extended comments on the scandal. She said she was "totally devastated" upon reading the Freeh report, which said that the longtime head football coach knew of an incident and police investigation involving Sandusky in 1998, and also of a second incident in the Penn State locker-room showers in 2001.

Caroline Doty, a Germantown Academy graduate and now a star basketball player at Connecticut, has treated fans with a trick shot video over the last few years. Last week, she was on the wrong side of trick-or-treating. Dressed as Lady GaGa for Halloween, Doty apparently drew complaints from other residents in her dorm, and they contacted campus police. Police said Doty was banging on doors as she made her way around the halls, and she was issued a citation at 2:15 a.m. The UConn athletic department said the matter was being handled internally.

Texas A&M shuts down after threat COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M University's campus shut down for about five hours Friday after an e-mailed bomb threat prompted an evacuation and building-by-building search. A&M Police Lt. Allan Baron said officials still were searching some buildings shortly after 4 p.m., but no bombs had been found and people were being allowed to come back on campus to retrieve personal belongings and their cars. "We're not preparing for a high influx of problems.

ALABAMA quarterback AJ McCarron said a report that he had torn the meniscus in his right knee in Saturday's win over Missouri was false and that he would be ready to play this weekend when the No. 1 Crimson Tide takes on Tennessee in Knoxville. "Rumors are rumors," McCarron said. "I feel good, ready to go. " On Monday, Alabama coach Nick Saban said McCarron had a "bruised knee" that wouldn't keep him from practicing. On Tuesday, McCarron practiced wearing a brace and participated in all drills.