Dr. Zeynep Gönen is an Associate Professor in the Sociology and Criminology department. During the Spring 2022 term,  Dr. Zeynep Gönen collaborated with the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee (MHLAC) in her CRIM 222: Crime and Inequality course. This collaboration involved a visit by MLAC’s director, Matt Cregor, to discuss the “School-to-Prison Pipeline” and MLAC's legal advocacy on the issue.  Students learned about the history and contemporary issues related to school policing and received practical guidance on submitting Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) requests to school districts to obtain specific data on School Resource Officers (SROs). Students then selected the districts in Massachusetts and started their MOA request. 

By coordinating these requests across various districts, Dr. Gönen’s class collected the data and submitted it to MCLAC to support their ongoing advocacy on this issue. Students developed critical skills, navigated the formal process to request specific data from public institutions, held school districts accountable to new state disclosure laws, and supported an advocacy organization, while learning about the school-to-prison pipeline.