Public Universities In Texas Must Now Enforce Campus Carry Law

Alex Keating9 years ago

Professors and students alike at public Texas universities are losing their shit over the state’s recently passed “campus carry” law, which forces public universities to allow licensed gun holders who are 21 years or older to bring their concealed handguns onto the majority of places on campus. The schools applicants are declining their admission, potential new faculty hires are withdrawing their applicants, and one current professor even said that he would be willing to go to court for defying the law.

As the repercussions of the law continue to unfold, a number of schools are already educating faculty on how to approach this new situation. A slide show produced by the University of Houston and presented to its professors suggests that they may want to “be careful when discussing sensitive topics, drop certain topics from their curriculum, not ‘go there’ if you sense anger, and limit student access off hours.” The presentation also outlines that professors are unable to ban guns in classrooms (it’s illegal now), ask for concealed carry holders to declare themselves, make provocative statements, or make cute signs.

From The Guardian:

The presentation is not official university policy, which is expected to be announced in the next couple of months. Jonathan Snow, the senate president, has told the governing body that faculty members are overwhelmingly opposed to the new rule. “It’s a radical law because guns have never really been a part of American university campuses,” Snow said. “I can no longer say there will be no guns in my classroom, that makes me a criminal.”

This begs the question, however, what exactly constitutes someone showing anger? It seems as though professors face a seemingly endless amount of adversity when it comes to teaching nowadays. Not only do they run the risk of having some social justice warrior demonstration popping up in class when they discuss “sensitive topics,” they now have to worry about the unholstering of a firearm in tense situations.

God bless them. Something tells me this is only the beginning of an already tension-filled situation. I guess we will all just have to patiently wait and see how it plays out..

[via The Guardian]

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