Faculty Senate passed legislation Monday that supports forbidding people with concealed weapons permits to carry firearms on campus.
Resolution 319: Resolution Against State of Wyoming House Bill 105 and House Bill 103, was brought forward as a response to the proposal of House Bills 103 and 105 in the Wyoming Legislature, both of which would have allowed firearms on campus.
“House Bill 105 and House Bill 103 would have opened up the campus for more or less anybody with a concealed carry permit to open or conceal carry firearms on campus,” Faculty Senate Chair Michael Barker said. “We had some deliberations and we decided that we would write a resolution against those two bills.”
While the resolution was against allowing people to carry firearms on campus, Barker iterated that it was not a piece of anti-gun legislation.
“It is not an anti-gun resolution. What it tries to convey is that a university campus is a unique place where we do not need students armed,” Barker said.
The resolution lists five reasons why the faculty senate is against carrying firearms on campus including that a) firearms in the classroom would be perceived as a threat by many students and educators, b) UW facilities are used for pre-school childcare, an elementary school, and a junior high school, c) college life is stressful which could lead to potentially lethal consequences when mixed with firearms, d) the availability of firearms could have an adverse effect on the student suicide rate, especially with Wyoming’s high suicide rates, e) and there could be a danger of accidental discharge of the firearms.
“It was very carefully worded that we encourage the state to not pass House Bill 105 and House Bill 103 as currently written,” Barker said. “There is a lot of good stuff in 105 and 103, but the part of it that pertained to university campuses is what we were trying to offer a faculty opinion on.”
Because both House bills died in committee and were never voted on, some members of the faculty senate argued that it was not appropriate to pass the resolution. However, the senate did pass the resolution with minimal opposition.
Provost Myron Allen also addressed the senate about the new budget cuts which will amount to six percent and not the eight percent that was originally proposed. Allen did not elaborate on how the budget would be adjusted to meet the new cuts.
“Obviously this is a better scenario than expected, but we will still have to accommodate,” Allen said.
The senate also discussed the proposed date changes for the academic calendar until the year 2016, during which most suggested the university align its academic calendar with the Albany County School District. No final changes have been made to the academic calendar.
Faculty Senate also approved the following positions: Edward Janak for Chair-Elect, Jennifer Petrie for Secretary, and Tucker Readdy and Teresa Stephenson for Members-at-Large.
