Kristopher Rivera|El Paso Times
The debate lingers over possible repercussions ofthe campus carry law that will go into effect at state universities Monday.
The University of Texas at El Paso will be among those allowing campus carry in most classrooms.
“The UTEP campus has always been a safe and inviting environment and we don’t expect that to change on Monday after the law is implemented,” said Gary Edens, UTEP vice president for student affairs. He chaired the campus' Concealed Carry Task Force.
Senate Bill 11, known as the campus carry law, was signed into law in June 2015 by Gov. Greg Abbott.
But one UTEP professor warns of possible deadlyconsequencesfromthe law.
“I think it’s a lot more than a distraction.I think it’s dangerous,” said Lex Williford, chairman of the Creative Writing Department at UTEP. “I think it’s one of the most dangerous things we could do at a time we need to be bringing down the cost of tuition to students who are now crushed by student debt. When I think of public education, I think of an education that is safe and hopefully relatively inexpensive. It seems to me that the priorities of the Texas state Legislature are so completely off that we have just reached this point of absurdity.”
Williford said there have been instances in his life that have led him to believe that having guns on campus is not wise.
Williford said aformer colleague at the University of Arkansas, whom he described as a terrific human being and a good professor, was gunned down by a student.
“He would not accept the thesis that one of this students had written and the student walked into his office and shot him in the head,” Williford said. “I’ve had two or three situations in which I’ve had disturbed students who come into my office — because I’m the chair I’m the one who has to take care of these things — and these people come into my office and it’s been very clear that there was hostile intent. If they had a gun it would have been very bad.”
WhileWilliford was teaching at the University of Alabama, he said, one of his students sent an email threatening to “take himself out and all the rest of us. It completely ruined the workshop that I was teaching.”
Williford also said that aformer peer from graduate school was the teacher of Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech.
“She warned the administration, ‘This guy is trouble,’ ” Williford said. “Nobody paid any attention to her and then the guy went to campus and shot all these people.”
She wasn't among the victims.
Edens said,“It’s important to remember that the law allows concealed carry, not open carry.You must also have a concealed carry license, and storage is not provided on the campus. All licensed carriers need to abide by the exclusion zones, which will be identified by signage and are listed on the campus carry website at utep.edu/campuscarry."
The university created the UTEP Campus Concealed Carry Task Force to present a policy on campus carry. In July, policies from each school in the University of TexasSystem —14 institutions — were reviewed by the UT Board of Regents. UTEP’s policy was approved.
“We received a lot of feedback from the campus community, including at a number of open forums, via email and through phone calls,” Edens said. “We took all of these recommendations seriously and we thank the UT System for approving UTEP’s policy earlier this summer.”
The law gives university presidents the right to regulate campus carry, but it also specifies that rules and regulations may not “generally prohibit” or “have the effect of generally prohibiting” licensed holders from carrying concealed handguns on campus.
Many undergraduate students will not be qualified to obtain a license. Under Texas law, in order to obtain a concealed carry license, a person must be at least 21 years old.
Texas is one of eight states which now have provisions allowing concealed weapons on “public postsecondary campuses,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The others areColorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin.
Concerns remain at UTEP that the law mightcreate tension in classrooms or reduce the exchange of ideas.
“I’m a fairly noncontroversial person.I respect all my students’ opinions if they happen to be on the left or the right, I try my best to listen and allow there to be plenty of opinions,” Williford said. “But if people start coming to class with guns, I am not going to feel free to talk about anything.”
David Lemon, 24, a UTEP student, opposes the law.
“I’m not sure the university is the best place to have (a gun), so many of us are under stress all the time,” Lemon said. “Some people get real heated with the professors. If someone has a gun and someone’s really getting on their nerves, what’s to stop them from whipping it out?I don’t think it’s the best idea. I don’t think this is a place, maybe not even the time.”
Marcus Heikkinen, 23, a UTEP student, hasa different perspective onthe law.
“Since it’s something new, I think a lot of people are scared, so they don’t really believe in it (campus carry),” Heikkinen said. “Personally, I think as long as you have your license to carry, it’s OKbecause you never know. As long as you have your license and a clean record, it’s perfectly fine. I think things will be the same.”
UTEP student Antonio Lugo, 20, said, “If you have a license, I think it’s OK. I support the Second Amendment.I’m all for it.”
Georgina Rodriguez, 22, a UTEP student and a gun owner, also supports the law.
“I agree with it,” Rodriguez said. “It makes me feel safer to know you can actually legally carry a handgun. I believe guns do keep you safer.I’m very pro-guns. I love my guns.”
Rodriguez added, “My Mexican friends are very against it, but my American friends are very for it. It is a sensitive issue because of the two cultures, but I don’t think it’s going to be a big problem. I know there’s exception zones that might be a hassle for people and might be discouraging."
El Paso Community College is in the process of adopting the campus carry law, which will go into effect for community collegeson Aug. 1, 2017.
“Basically, what we’re doing is what UTEP did a few months ago: We have a task force, doing forums, addressing the policy and designating areas that are gun-free zones,” EPCC police Capt. Joe Barragan said. “Basically, we’re at the infant stage of generating policy and getting board approval.”
Kristopher Rivera may be reached at 546-6121; krivera@elpasotimes.com; @kgrivera on Twitter.
UTEP gun exclusion zones
The following is the complete list of the UTEP task force’s regulations on campus carry:
- Other places where federal law requires exclusion or where weapons are prohibited by an accrediting authority, including the University Heights Early Learning Center at UTEP and on-campus voting locations organized by governmental agencies
- Patient care areas, including the Student Health Center, University Counseling Center and College of Health Sciences Clinics— the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinics lab and waiting room and the Community Rehabilitation Program Clinics lab and waiting room
- Areas where high school, college, professional sporting events or interscholastic events are taking place, including Sun Bowl Stadium, Don Haskins Center, Kidd Field, Memorial Gym, University Field, Helen of Troy Softball Complex and El Paso Tennis Club
- Animal-care areaswhere protocols regulating entering and exitingcreate a risk a handgun could accidentally discharge, contaminate or separate from a license holder, including the Biosciences Building Vivarium, the Psychology Building animal holding area and the Biology Building animal holding area
- Laboratories required to comply with National Fire Protection Association Code 45 regulations that are hazard risk classification 2 or higher, as well as rooms with NMR units, natural gas lines 2 inches indiameter or greater and with an open flame, and areas where compressed gas cylinders are used or stored, including labs in the Biology, Bioscience Research, Campbell, Chemistry and Computer Science, Engineering, Geological Sciences, Health Sciences and Nursing, Physical Sciences and Psychology buildings, the Fox Fine Arts Center and pharmacy labs
- Labs or research facilities where "interaction with the body makes it difficult for individuals to conceal a handgun or where wearing a handgun would disrupt physical exertion or the study of the body," including labs in the Campbell, Health Sciences and Ross Moore buildings and the Larry K. Durham Center
- Student Assessment and Testing Centerswhen national tests like the SAT are being administered, including the Student Assessment andTesting Examination rooms and other rooms on campus when national testing is taking place
- Rooms in which formal hearings areheld for student discipline, academic policies,faculty personnel matters and other reasons
- Special events produced by external agents whose contracts specifically ban handguns during a performance, including Sun Bowl Stadium, Don Haskins Center, Magoffin Auditorium, Memorial Gymnasium and Union Cinema
- Properties off campus that have leases prohibiting weapons, including the UTEP Graduate Business Center in the Chase Building
- A mixed-used residence, such as the Hoover House
- The occupant of an office to which the occupant has been solely assigned and that is not generally open to the public is permitted, at the occupant’s discretion, to prohibit the concealed carry of a handgun in that office. An occupant who chooses to exercise this discretion must provide oral notice that the concealed carry of a handgun in the occupant’s office is prohibited. If the occupant’s duties ordinarily entail meeting people who may be license holders, the occupant must make reasonable arrangements to meet them in another location at a convenient time.
