‘Campus carry’ law
Contributed by: Kim Case, professor of women’s studies and psychology, and Beth Merfish, assistant professor of art history
As many UHCL community already know, the Texas legislature passed a law known as “campus carry” that will require all state universities to allow licensed concealed handguns on campus beginning August 1, 2016. As faculty members who take learning seriously, we ask all those opposed to this law to speak up and have your voices heard. For faculty members, the possibility of weapons in our classrooms, hallways, and offices represents both a constant threat and a distraction from the role we play in university life.
We seek to create safe spaces for discussion, engagement, and active learning in our classrooms. How can we do so if we are at the same time surveying our students for signs of weapons that make those classrooms dangerous, whether by intent or by the possibility of accidental weapon discharges?
We actively embrace intellectual debate, often concerning sensitive or emotionally-charged topics. How can we encourage debate when we must also consider and measure the invisible, ambiguous lines that separate vigorous discussion from violent encounter?
How are we to focus on the relationships we so value with our students—easy conversations in hallways, evaluations and grades dependent on mutual trust and integrity—when we must be ever-more vigilant and, possibly, suspicious of the role weapons may play in our daily interactions?
How can we recruit the most-qualified colleagues to join our learning community when they also receive job offers from universities where they do not have to worry that a dropped backpack may result in a discharged weapon, where they can encourage debate without fearing the consequences, where their families and loved ones do not worry about the ever-present threat that weapons on campus pose?
To date, the following groups have passed resolutions to state their clear opposition to the campus carry law: Faculty Senate, Council of Professors, School of Human Sciences and Humanities, Department of Liberal Arts, Department of Social and Cultural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Communication and Digital Media Studies Programs, First-Year Seminar Program, Anthropology Program, Applied Social Issues, Behavior Analysis Program, and the Humanities Program. These resolutions will be passed on to the Board of Regents which must approve the UHCL proposed plan for where concealed handguns will be banned on campus.
We are calling on all programs, concentrations, departments, professional groups, offices, student groups, alumni groups, UHCL’s community partners, etc. to pass resolutions to oppose campus carry. Please feel free to use the language of the School of Human Sciences and Humanities resolution:
“We, the Faculty of the School of Human Sciences and Humanities at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, go on record as opposing “campus carry” and urge the banning of guns in all campus buildings, classrooms, offices, and other places of learning.”
Send your passed resolutions to President Staples as Chair of the UHCL Campus Carry Work Group (staples@uhcl.edu). As campus community members, it is essential that we all participate in the conversations that shape our university and our lives. Please add your voices to ours in a resounding cry for a safe, nurturing, and vibrant learning and working environment for the entire UHCL community.
Update, 12/3/2015: The Art and Design Program has also passed a resolution stating their opposition to the campus carry law.
Editor’s Note: If you would like your program/organization’s name added to the list of those who oppose the campus carry law, please email thesignal@uhcl.edu or webmaster@uhclthesignal.com.
View the complete list of programs/organizations who have passed resolutions.
You make great points. Never really looked at it from this perspective.
Alas, trying to promote a libertarian idea that declining to support gun violence is somehow trampling on critical thinking skills is a worn out strategy used by members of Students for Concealed Carry and their supporters who do not themselves turn to the published literature in criminology to support their ideas that students with guns will provided much needed safety on UH campuses, but instead rely on debunked data from folks like John Lott, FOX NEWS, Breitbart, and spin NRA talking points and cherry-pick news reports of “good guys with guns” as if that approach carries any crimnological authority. Demagoguery and propaganda are tools used to involve “emotional” responses to a topic, not rational ones, which is why SCC and their supporters rely on that approach exclusively (while claiming those opposing Campus Carry are being “illogical,” rather than upon peer-reviewed empirical data which actually refutes all of their claims. Neither do they like to own up to the fact that they are in league (wittingly or unwittingly) with the NRA’s pushing of ALEC “Model” legislation through statehouses which has gone on since 2008. S.B. 11 is a prime example; three of its authors co- authors were ALEC members — all with ties either to ALEC, the NRA or both. And the ALEC -incentivized lawmakers received sums totaling more that $200,000. How’s that for logic? Our report, “The University of Houston Political Action Committee, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and the National Rifle Association: An uneasy alliance” goes into lengthy detail exposing this corruption and usurpation of the political process at our website: http://gunfreeuh.wix.com/gunfreeuh#!our-documents/chfc
We are a coalition exceeding 700 of UH students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and supports united against Campus Carry.
After researching the UHCL website for clarity on campus carry I have stumbled upon several articles on the Signal promoting the opposition of campus carry. No where have I seen anything relating to the promotion of this matter or logically debating the issue. The matter is one-sided. Which is fine if that is the general consensus of the community but at least provide the other side a chance. For a university who promotes critical thinking it seems as if the views of the university are a bit one sided and fail to offer the slightest bit of consideration for the “other side”. One article strung together a lengthy “what if” scenario based on little fact and neglecting to acknowledge the fact that CHL students must face rigorous background checks, safety courses, and situation awareness scenarios upon receiving their CHL. Essentially, if a criminal wanted to bring a gun on campus they would do so as they please. As a law-abiding citizen, however, a CHL owner would ideally follow the law seeing as they passed the FBI mandated background check and all of the trouble associated with trying to protect one’s self and exercise their constitutional rights. A university should not favor one side or the other but rather leave the decision up to a selected board and student vote. After all, it is the students who pay an ample sum of money each year to the university. I am not some “vigilante” or gun crazed american, just a student who promotes logical thinking and debate without bias. Since attending the university I have realized that the opinions of the faculty is not balanced or set aside but rather blatantly pushed upon the students. Logic saves lives. At the end of the day it is not about guns or no guns but rational and logical thinking and reasonable debate.