Student body president Jake Kirkham said he is not taking a definitive stance on the now suspended campus gun ban.

While Kirkham said he will follow student opinion if he is required to take a position on the campus gun policy, he thinks the issue has “been blown out of proportion.”

“Even if guns are allowed on campus, (students) need a permit to carry them,” Kirkham said.

Kirkham made his comments following a student’s question during the State of the ASUU Address held in Union Ballroom last night.

The previously held U policy prohibiting students, staff and faculty from carry guns on campus was suspended earlier this year after the state Supreme Court ruled it violated state law.

U administrators are currently lobbying state legislators to restore some form of the campus gun ban.

Kirkham told The Chronicle that many students have mistakenly thought that removing the gun policy allowed anyone to bring guns to class.

“In talking to students, I don’t know that they understand you need a permit,” Kirkham said.

Kirkham has not personally handled policy decisions surrounding the gun ban and directed other questions on the policy to the U administration.

“We’ve been instructed to not comment too much on this,” he said. “I don’t have a strong opinion on this matter.”

The gun issue was one among many topics that Kirkham and other members of the Associated Students of the University of Utah addressed.

The speakers made positive comments about the success of this year’s administration. Student leaders said some of their major accomplishments include organizing the upcoming Rock the U 26-hour dance marathon to raise money for cancer research, promoting successful concerts and appropriating more money to student groups.

The leaders also spoke about a controversial bill now being proposed in the ASUU Senate and General Assembly to cut funding to KUTE, the U’s student radio station, for the current year.

ASUU Attorney General Jill Baker said an audit of KUTE’s coffers showed that the station currently has $28,000 in reserve funds and could function despite the temporary cut.

She said the station currently requires fewer than $15,000 per year to function.

Station managers previously said they required more than $20,000 a year to run the station and would quickly exhaust their reserves if ASUU withdrew funding.

Mike Terry

Jake Kirkham addresses the student body during the State of the ASUU Address in the Union Ballroom on Monday night.