Lawmakers believe a 20 year-old U policy banning students and employees from carrying weapons on campus is illegal.
After hearing opinions from many college and university representatives from across the state, the Administrative Rules Committee appealed all campus gun-control policies. The state Senate and House of Representatives will review the colleges’ policies and vote on their legality later this month.
Read the Comments of U President Bernie Machen, Before the Administrative Rules Committee Jan. 14.
U President Bernie Machen defended his school’s policy, stating that most U students, employees and even the majority of the citizens of Utah believe guns do not belong on campus. “Classrooms, libraries, dormitories and cafeterias are no place for lethal weapons,” he said.
Current U policy prohibits students, faculty and staff?but not visitors?from possessing guns on campus. Exceptions to this rule include the U Police Department, the ROTC program and pistol team.
Machen defended the U’s policy, saying, “The essence, indeed the very heart, of a college experience is the free exchange of ideas in a nurturing environment. Students who are being introduced to new concepts, who are grappling to understand new ideas, must feel they can openly express their views and questions those ideas in a safe setting” without having “that debate diminished by concern over who has a gun in his backpack.”
The policy prohibiting all guns on campus came under fire when Attorney General Mark Shurtleff presented legislative leaders with his formal opinion about Utah gun laws in early December.
His opinion stated that the Legislature alone has the right to create gun laws. Lawmakers can also give any entity the right to restrict firearms.
Universities and colleges have not been given this right and are therefore breaking the law, Shurtleff said.
Machen maintains his policy is legal because the policy protects “academic freedom” that is vital to the learning environment of colleges and universities.
U administrators were not the only higher education institution defending its right to have such a policy. Nearly all 10 state institutions were represented, adding to Machen’s original statement. Nearly all 10 state institutions have some kind of policy or rule regarding gun control. Many schools ban students from storing firearms in dormitories. Other college policies limited on-campus gun possession to those with concealed weapon permits.
U General Council Attorney John Morris insists that U policy is legal and says that current state law prohibits firearms on campuses.
One U student, Matt Boyden, sat through the lengthy hearing and addressed the committee near the end of the meeting.
He said the effort of school presidents to maintain their gun policies is a gross effort to trump the state Legislature’s power.
Boyden, who is a third-year law student, hopes to see the Legislature take the college policies to court.
In his statement to the committee, Machen said, “I recognize that the right to carry a gun whenever and wherever a person wants is an issue of some considerable passion for some Utah residents. We certainly don’t wish to interfere with their legitimate rights, nor do we wish to violate state law or antagonize the Legislature because of our policy.
“However, college campuses are different, we need the right [to pass gun policy],” Machen said.
If the Legislature decides campus policy is illegal, the U may take the decision to court, said Fred Esplin, U vice president for university relations.
The Legislature should address these policies before the end of January.