Jim Choate says:
Can't speak for MIT but I can speak for UT Austin, they do have cells to hold prisoners. The security forces at that school attend the Tx Dept. of Public Safety training school and hold state law enforcement positions. The last thing you want to do is really piss one of these guys, you would end up in one of the state prisons for several years, Huntsville probably.
Schools can use physical force against their students. I have personaly seen assaults on the presidents office when a group of students took it over in the late 80's because of UT Austin holdings in S. Africa. I have seen them knock the holy shit out of students for nothing more than simply refusing to move fast enough. The officers stormed the office in full riot gear with M16 automatic rifles and smoke grenades.
I suspect that MIT's security forces, even though it is a private school, hold 'peace officer' ratings and this implies that they can carry weapons at any time (though they don't usually). This holds for the small community college that I work at now as well. The officers don't carry guns as a regular part of their uniform except during registration when there are large amounts of cash on campus or when important officials visit the campus(es).
The University of Chicago's Security officers are sworn Chicago police; they are given full police powers, if only limited jurisdiction. Lucky for everyone here they choose not to exercise *any* authority. Trying to neither be foolish nor a lightweight.... _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ It's dangerous to be right _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ when the government is wrong. _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/ --Voltaire _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/