Colleges should be places where, beyond learning new ideas, people discuss them.
They should be hot beds of critical thinking and the exchange of ideas.
But, when Texas passed a bill compelling public universities to allow license holders aged 21 and over to bring concealed handguns on to most areas of campus, things changed.
And, remember, students between the ages of 18 and up to 21 also attend the classes with those who can carry.
What could go wrong?
Students and academics have warned of a chilling effect on freedom of expression since it has been suggested, for obvious reasons, that faculty members should “be careful discussing sensitive topics; drop certain topics from your curriculum; not ‘go there’ if you sense anger; limit student access off hours; go to appointment-only office hours; only meet ‘that student’ in controlled circumstances.”
The University of Houston faculty senate wrote a resolution opposing this law that said in part, “The diverse academic communities and free academic discourse are especially threatened by the presence of deadly weapons in teaching, research and living spaces.”
The law allows private universities to ban guns, and no private school has chosen to allow guns.
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This prompted Jonathan Snow, president of the University of Houston faculty senate to point out, “Academics know the intrusion of gun culture into campus inevitably harms academic culture.”
If a professor knows a topic may result in a heavy discussion, and might fear someone could get angry enough to snap, banning guns during that topic’s coverage would violate the law making the professor a criminal.
Imagine the potential chaos in a class that discusses abortion or religion.
Supporters of guns on campus claim that there will only be a small number of responsible license holders who have undergone training and background checks and that guns were already allowed in some outside areas of Texas campuses, but the fantasy that proper classroom decorum will be maintained, and discussions will be reasonable gets sort of shot down in light of what the last Republican debate devolved into.
Even the military doesn’t allow guns in barracks and classrooms.
Obviously, extremist legislators serving the gun lobby not the academic community, won out.
Fifty years ago this summer, when the new carry law goes into effect, Charles Whitman took guns and ammunition to the top of the 300-foot tower at the University of Texas at Austin and shot 46 people, killing 14 and wounding 31 with one person dying 35 years later in 2001 from wounds received that day .
Concealed carry on campus is a most thoughtful anniversary gift.