AUSTIN, Texas — When Texas’ conservative Legislature passed a law requiring public universities to allow concealed guns on campus, it also gave the state’s private institutions of higher learning the chance to follow suit. None has so far.
More than 20 private schools have said they won’t lift their gun bans when the law takes effect this August, including the state’s largest private universities that have religious affiliations and often align with the type of conservative values espoused by the politicians behind the law.
The opposition has not surprised top Texas Republicans who championed the law as a matter of constitutional rights and self-defense. But it reflects a widespread belief even among conservative university leaders that guns have no place in the classroom.
Baylor, Texas Christian and Southern Methodist universities have all declined to allow guns on their campuses.
“My own view is that it is a very unwise public policy,” Baylor president Ken Starr, a former prosecutor and judge best known for his work on the Whitewater investigation involving President Bill Clinton, said late last year. The Baptist school announced this month that guns would not be allowed on campus.
Previous law generally banned concealed handguns from Texas’ public and private universities. That changed last year, when lawmakers passed the so-called “campus carry” law that requires public universities to allow concealed handgun license holders to bring their weapons into campus buildings and classrooms.
Texas will be one of at least 20 states that allow some form of campus carry.
The law faced objections from public higher education officials, law enforcement, students and faculty. Opponents included University of Texas System chancellor William McRaven, the former head of U.S. Special Operations Command who directed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Texas A&M University System chancellor John Sharp said guns on campus didn’t trouble him.
When public schools asked for the same choice private schools have, state lawmakers said no.
The author of the law, Sen. Brian Birdwell, whose district includes Baylor, said he had to protect the public’s “God-given” right of self-defense on public property, but also private property rights. He notes private businesses can ban guns. Lawmakers likely also would have faced legal action from private schools over any attempt to force them to accept guns.
“I did expect a number of schools to try to circumvent the law,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told WFAA-TV of Dallas. “I don’t know why colleges are fixated with this. I think it makes campuses safer.”
The public school gun mandate frustrates University of Texas president Greg Fenves, who begrudgingly approved rules allowing guns in his classrooms, saying he had no alternative.
“Private universities have made a statement that handguns do not belong in campus buildings. I agree,” Fenves said. “We don’t have a choice.”
The law’s Aug. 1 start date will be the 50th anniversary of sniper Charles Whitman’s deadly attack from the top of the University of Texas campus clock tower and administration building.
