Oregon State University’s Department of Public Safety has been on the hunt for a new police chief since the abrupt departure of former Chief Shannon Anderson in 2024.
James Yon was appointed interim chief following Anderson’s exit and is now the permanent chief.
As interim, Yon’s salary was $200,448 annually, and now, as permanent chief, his salary is $225,000, according to an email from Media Relations Director Misty Edgecomb. Anderson’s final salary at OSU was $196,512.
In an email, Yon outlined several of his goals as head of the department, including creating a forensic lab at DPS, building a relationship with the President’s Commission Advisory groups, keeping staffing numbers high, preparing for accreditation review and keeping technology up to date.
According to Edgecomb, an internal search for a chief was conducted and all internal candidates were considered for the position. Stephen Jenkins, executive director of University Housing & Dining Services, served as the search committee chair.
According to Associated Students of OSU President Masha Mogylevsky, a group of student leaders were invited to ask questions during the interview process. Throughout the process, Mogylevsky was troubled that there was only one candidate for chief.
“I just found that a bit concerning because the whole point of these stakeholder evaluation interviews was to have meaningful feedback into the process and that doesn’t feel like it can really happen if there is only one candidate,” Mogylevsky said.
Mogylevsky also raised concerns about Yon’s response to a student leader’s question of how DPS would handle Immigration and Customs Enforcement altercations on campus.
“One other student asked about how he is planning to address ICE presence on campus, and his response was pretty much that he’s going to protect the ICE officers from the students,” Mogylevsky said.
When Mogylevsky followed up with Yon and asked what he would do if a student was abducted by ICE, he first corrected their use of the word “abducted” and said that he would protect the students from doing anything “stupid.”
When asked about how DPS would handle conflicts with ICE in an email, Yon said that Oregon has specific statutes that prevent the police from assisting ICE in any way.
“DPS will follow the statute,” Yon said, “If ICE does come on to campus and a situation arises from that, DPS will get in between the students/staff to keep the peace.”
According to Vice President for University Relations and Marketing Rob Odom, all OSU employees – including DPS – have been instructed to refer all requests from federal agents to the Office of General Counsel.
“University employees are not authorized to release confidential student or employee information to federal agencies except as required by law, valid warrant, subpoena or court order,” Odom said in an email.
Mogylevsky also raised concerns about Yon’s disregard of Clery statistics — an annual security report that colleges and universities who receive federal funding are required to publish — which they said indicate a rise in violent crimes and sexual assaults.
According to Mogylevsky, Yon claimed that Clery statistics are misleading because they’re based on what an incident is initially reported as, and never addressed their specific questions on drug overdoses, sexual assaults, and violent crimes.
“I think my main concerns were that Jim was not able to promise to protect students from unlawful federal law enforcement and that he did not address a lot of the questions students asked him,” Mogylevsky said.
Mogylevsky added that ultimately, the process was unsatisfactory for them. Between there being only one candidate and Yon’s answers to the student leadership’s questions, they saw it as more of a formality than an official process.
“I definitely wish there were at least more candidates to give feedback (on) even though student feedback is usually disregarded anyway, but at least it would have felt a little more real,” Mogylevsky said.
According to Mogylevsky, student safety should be the central focus of any police chief, a sentiment that they did not feel from Yon.
“Student safety is super important right now and we really need somebody at OSU who genuinely is looking out for our safety first … and is willing to put extra work into that. I did not feel any of that from this final candidate,” they said.
