Colorado State University’s past refusal to go along with a national trend and ban concealed weapons on campus makes sense to students, but not necessarily to adults on campus.
That split is now front and center. The CSU Board of Governors on Friday voted 9-0 to implement a policy that will likely lead to a ban on concealed weapons on the university’s campuses.
Student leaders say allowing students with permits to carry weapons means everyone is safer — especially women — despite what other schools have done or what an international study by law enforcement contends.
“I’ve had many say how it makes women feel safer on campus, knowing they can conceal and carry,” said sophomore David Ambrose, a member of the Associated Students of Colorado State University. “It really empowers the powerless.”
In fact, it was the ASCSU student senate that voted overwhelmingly this week to oppose any attempt to ban concealed weapons.
Few faculty members, however, support packing concealed weapons, and many are puzzled by the students’ stance.
“This was a total culture shock to me when I heard you could carry weapons,” said Robert Duffy, chairman of the CSU political science department, who has taught at CSU for eight years.
Nearly every public college and university bans student possession of concealed weapons on campus through state laws, university regulation or both, according to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
State law in Utah allows concealed weapons in that state’s nine public colleges and one public technical college. Among individual institutions, CSU has allowed concealed weapons since 2003 and is joined only by Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, Va., and Michigan State University.
But CSU may be closer to banning concealed weapons. CSU’s Board of Governors is leaving the nuts and bolts of a weapons-control policy up to the school’s campus presidents. Still, the intent to ban concealed weapons is clear.
“We respect there are many differing opinions on this issue,” said board chairman Patrick McConathy, “but members of the CSU system board believe this a reasonable, rational and responsible decision for our system.”
For most of the board members, a concealed-weapons policy was needed to head off a potential disaster.
“I bristle at any attempt to limit the Second Amendment,” said board member Ed Haselden. “But if a friend came to me after his son or daughter was killed by someone whose concealed weapon accidentally discharged, I don’t know what I would tell them.”
This year, both CSU-Fort Collins’ public safety team and the president’s cabinet voted for a concealed-weapons ban.
A final policy probably won’t be presented to the board until February. But the resolution passed Friday alludes to the potential danger of allowing students or faculty to carry concealed weapons on campus.
It cites a statement from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators that says: “There is no credible statistical evidence demonstrating that laws allowing the carrying of concealed firearms reduce crime.”
Debate on Friday highlighted schisms between faculty and students at CSU’s campuses in Fort Collins and Pueblo.
Should CSU go ahead with a ban, there would be a “public-relations upheaval” and it would lead to severe “political repercussions,” said Fort Collins student body president Dan Gearheart.
“If we wanted to ban concealed weapons because they could be dangerous, we might as well ban everything on campus because they could be a potential risk,” said CSU history student Brady Allen.
But CSU-Pueblo student body president Steven Titus sees it differently, saying concealed weapons would disrupt learning.
“If I see a girl sitting next to me with a gun in her purse, I’d be wondering if she had ulterior motives,” Titus said. “I’d get up and leave and maybe call security on her.”
CSU’s refusal until now to ban concealed weapons may be simply because it has not come up for discussion, said political science professor John Straayer, who has been at the school for more than 40 years.
He said it’s not likely due to the school’s cultural history as an agricultural college or the perceived conservatism of the students.
“I wouldn’t put much on that old wild West Aggie history angle,” Straayer said. “I wouldn’t ride that horse too far.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
