WHAT: The University of Utah (the U) has filed a request for a declaratory judgment in U.S. District Court seeking to retain the U’s right to keep guns off campus. The entire filing is available by calling Coralie Alder at 801-581-5180 or Fred Esplin at 801-581-4088. Listed below under “Why” are some highlights of the summary for a quick review.
WHO: The University of Utah filed the complaint against Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff in his official capacity.
WHEN: The complaint was filed on the morning of Tuesday, March 12, 2002.
HOW: The lawsuit will proceed on an agreed statement of facts. The costs will be low and the university will pay its costs from non-tax funds. The U will accept and implement the courts’ decision.
WHY: Purpose for filing the complaint:
The conclusion of the 2002 Legislative Session coincides with the Legislature’s sunsetting of the U’s ban on concealed weapons. This action makes clear the Legislature’s position on the U’s long-standing policy and necessitates definitive action by the university. Therefore, in cooperation with the attorney general of the State of Utah, the U is seeking a final determination on how best to meet the legislative intent concerning concealed weapons and maintain a campus that is both safe and open to free speech and vigorous debate.
The U’s policy has wide support among its Board of Trustees, its students (Jan-Feb 2002 poll showed 84% of current students support it), and the faculty (the Academic Senate voted March 4, 2002, to support continuation of the policy.
Key Points contained in summary:
1. As a fundamental part of its educational mission, the U has the responsibility to foster a safe academic environment for learning and the exchange of ideas free of coercion, intimidation, and the risk of physical violence. For 30 years, the university, like other state and national universities and colleges, has prohibited students, staff and faculty from possessing or using firearms and other dangerous weapons on campus. The U believes these policies are necessary to maintain its campus as a haven of academic freedom, civility, and learning.
2. The U seeks an order of the Court stating that the U’s policies prohibiting firearms on campus (a) were adopted pursuant to the lawful exercise of the U’s rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Utah Constitution and Utah Law and (b) do not otherwise violate Utah law. The U also seeks injunctive relief during the pendency of this action, and thereafter permanently, to prevent the attorney general from seeking to impose a civil or criminal liability on the U, its officers, employees or trustees, for enforcing the U’s firearms policy.
3. The U has prohibited the unauthorized possession or use of firearms on campus since 1977. At that time, the U prohibited students from possessing or using on university premises or at U activities any firearm or other dangerous weapon unless the U authorized such possession or use. In 1995, the U’s Board of Trustees approved a policy on discipline and dismissal of staff. That policy also prohibits U staff from possessing or using any firearms or other dangerous weapons, unless authorized by the university. In 1997, that policy was extended to include all university employees, including faculty.
4. The Firearms Act and the Concealed Weapons Act were intended by the Legislature to (a) prohibit local laws of general application governing the use and possession of firearms and concealed weapons, and (b) make it clear that local authorities and individual state entities lack authority to criminalize firearms possession or use. Neither statute, however, was intended to interfere with the U’s authority to govern itself by internal policies that apply only to students, faculty and staff; to preempt internal U policies concerning campus safety; or to interfere with the U’s reasonable efforts to promote safety, civility and academic freedom on the U’s campus.
5. The U has a duty to protect the physical and emotional safety of students in classrooms, residence halls and throughout campus, and has the duty under state law to provide U employees with workplaces free from recognized hazards likely to cause physical harm. It is commonly known that the presence of firearms at the workplace or in the classroom will significantly increase that risk. A policy that keeps firearms out of the U directly reduces the possibility of armed conflict and accidents and substantially increases the safety of all who go there.
6. The U’s right to adopt and enforce reasonable policies to ensure academic freedom is protected by the First Amendment, which protects, among other things, the U’s institutional autonomy especially as it relates to the creation and maintenance of an environment in which ideas may be freely exchanged without threat of violence, disruption or coercion. The First Amendment protects the U’s freedom to make its own judgments about education and the environment in which education ought to occur. Academic freedom requires the exclusion of governmental intervention in the intellectual life of a university. The Utah State Constitution similarly supports the U’s right to have these policies.
7. The U contends that carrying weapons on campus is fundamentally incompatible with academic freedom because: (a) weapons on campus threaten free speech and the free exchange of ideas, (b) academic freedom flourishes only where members of the academic community understand that they may teach and learn without governmental intervention into their intellectual pursuits and (c) the presence of firearms on campus in the hands of faculty, students and staff undermines the authority of the U to govern itself, its students, faculty and staff In joining the U community as teachers, students or staff, everyone agrees to be bound by the U’s internal policies.