A group of University of Wisconsin students gathered on campus Monday to hear results from Ferguson, Missouri, where a grand jury decided to not indict the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man this summer.

The event, held in the Multicultural Student Center at the Red Gym, allowed students to react to the news from Ferguson and offer their perspectives on the problems facing people of color in Ferguson and Madison.

After the decision was announced that Officer Darren Wilson would not face charges for the death of Michael Brown, students shared their thoughts on the situation and their own personal experiences with law enforcement.

Jordan Gaines, a UW junior, said the decision from Ferguson did not surprise her.

Part of the problem is the legal system is not designed to be completely equal, she said.

“It wasn’t built to protect certain bodies. It was actually built on the oppression and deprivation of freedom of a lot of people,” she said.

Casey Coulson, a UW junior, said she has had several negative interactions with law enforcement, including an incident from late October in which she was arrested for jaywalking on State Street.

“I was walking about a foot outside the crosswalk, the cop was driving and almost hit me, and then she got out and asked me for my information,” Coulson said.

Coulson, who was intoxicated at the time, said she cooperated with the officer, who ended up arresting her despite objections from another officer.

She spent the night in jail, restrained in a chair without her glasses, and today she remains fearful of what could happen next.

“I feel like I’m one angry cop away from something worse,” she said.

Since the incident on Halloween, Coulson said she’s still afraid for her well-being and livelihood.

Equipping police officers with body cameras would not necessarily solve the issues people of color face with law enforcement, she said.

“Body cameras are difficult because you can manipulate footage any way you want to,” Coulson said.

The way an incident is framed using the cameras could cause its own problems, she said. Coulson added that she’s cautious but not optimistic about the effectiveness of body cameras.

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More surveillance may not solve the problem, Gaines said.

“How much will that [camera] rein you in, in that moment?” she said.

Even with current surveillance from squad cars and footage from smartphones, the issue persists, she said.

Gaines said both Madison police and the University of Wisconsin Police Department have taken steps to become more visible in the community, allowing them to hear from citizens firsthand.

“Being present in those spaces to hear what people are and saying and hear how people are perceiving your rule” allow law enforcement to become aware of issues in the community and take steps to address them, she said.

One solution Coulson believed would be more effective is paying more careful attention to who is hired by the police department, she said.

“There needs to be more care in hiring practices [to avoid bad apples],” she said. “There needs to be accountability.”

A rally for supporters of Brown will be held at the Dane County Jail Tuesday afternoon.