Boards prohibit guns on campus

UA, ASU reject new state law

Boards of trustees for the state’s two largest university systems voted unanimously Thursday to opt out of a new state law that would allow qualified, full-time faculty and staff members to carry concealed handguns on their campuses.

The University of Arkansas System - which includes five universities, five community colleges and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences - and the Arkansas State University System - which includes Arkansas State University-Jonesboro and three community colleges - must now post signs on their campuses informing visitors of the gun-free rule.

The Arkansas Tech University board of trustees also voted Thursday to prohibit allowing faculty and staff members to carry guns on campus, joining most public universities in the state in opting out of Act 226 of 2013.

The law, which goes into effect Aug. 16, will allow trained and licensed full-time faculty and staff members at the state’s colleges and universities to carry concealed handguns unless an institution’s governing board adopts a policy expressly disallowing it. Boards must renew those policies annually. None ofthe state’s higher education leaders have said they plan to allow concealed carry on their campuses.

“I think the message is very clear that not only is our system going to opt out of this, but hopefully all of the other higher education institutions in Arkansas are going to do the same,” said UA trustee David Pryor of Little Rock.

Supporters of the law, including lead sponsor Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, said it will help protect people.

Armed staff members would be a deterrent to violent criminals and could prevent a mass shooting similar to rampages at Virginia Tech and other universities in recent years, Collins told colleagues when they considered the law.

But student government associations and faculty senates around the state have approved resolutions asking their campus leaders not to allow concealed carry under the law’s provisions.

And chancellors and presidents of several universities have said they would be concerned about increased liability and complications for campus security officers if they allowed professors to carry guns on campus.

After UA trustees unanimously approved continuing with a gun-free campus policy, campus leaders and faculty, who had gathered for their meeting at Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas’ Stuttgart campus, gave the board a loud round of applause.

ASU trustees, meeting in Jonesboro, consulted chancellors at the system’s four campuses - Jonesboro, Newport, Beebe and Mountain Home - before determining how to respond to the new law.

“I believe in the right to carry arms,” Chairman Mike Gibson of Osceola said before the board voted. “But we considered this seriously. We listened to our campus security officers, and we didn’t take this lightly.”

ASU System President Charles Welch said he spoke with campus police before making his recommendation to the board.

“If we had an active shooter situation in a room somewhere and security came in and saw three people holding weapons, it would slow down their response time,” he said. “An overwhelming majority of those on our campuses felt we shouldn’t allow weapons on campus.”

Other institutions that have voted to continue banning concealed carry by staff members and faculty include University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia and Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.

Information for this article was contributed by Jacy Marmaduke of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.-

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 05/24/2013

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