Category Archives: updates

education, press release, updates

Press Release: Gun-Free UT hosting teach-in on campus carry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: media@gunfreeut.org
Download PDF: Gun-Free UT Holding Teach-In announcement

GUN-FREE UT HOSTING TEACH-IN ON CAMPUS CARRY AT UT-AUSTIN

AUSTIN, TX, January 20, 2016 — As 2016 kicks off with more private universities rejecting campus carry, Gun-Free UT has decided to start the new semester at UT-Austin with a Teach-In this Friday, January 22, from 2-5pm at the Glickman Conference Center, CLA 1.302.B.

Organized by Gun-Free UT, the Teach-In will cover the multitude of issues around this controversial law and offer relevant insight, if not answers, to such questions as: What is Campus Carry? How will Campus Carry affect you & your friends? Will guns make you safer or less safe? How can you defend yourself without guns?
“This Teach-In is a phenomenal multi-disciplinary event that will bring together great minds from across the University to ask challenging questions and further assert UT-Austin’s historical role as the epicenter of the movement against guns on campus,” says Ellen Spiro, professor of Radio-TV-Film and an Emmy-winning filmmaker. “Guns serve no purpose on campus other than to intimidate. Gun-Free UT is committed to amplifying the voices of our community and to not be silent in the face of the injustice of Campus Carry. Guns and education do not mix.”

A number of esteemed UT-Austin academics, whose expertise runs the gamut from gun- control issues and psychology to women’s self-defense and African studies, will be part of the Teach-In, including Matt Valentine, Plan II coordinator and contributor to The Atlantic, Salon and other publications; Cole Hutchison, associate professor of English and member of the Campus Carry Working Group; Kevin Foster, associate professor of African & African Diaspora Studies; Becky Bigler, professor of pyschology and director of the Child Research Lab; George Schorn, author of Smile at Strangers and an expert on women’s self-defense; Kate Catterall, associate professor of design and teacher of a course on Campus Carry & Design; and Yasmiyn Irizarry, assistant professor of African & African Diaspora Studies. Also participating is Danielle Vabner, a UT undergraduate and sister of Noah Vabner, who was killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.

***
Gun-Free UT is a broad coalition of faculty, students, staff, parents and alumni opposed to allowing guns in campus buildings. Since its founding in August 2015, Gun-Free UT has become a statewide movement, garnering national and international attention. Thousands at UT campuses from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley to Tyler have joined in the fight to keep concealed firearms out of dorms, classrooms and offices. For more information on Gun- FreeUT’s legal position, click here.

education, event, press release, take action!, updates

Gun-Free UT Teach-in

Let’s start the new semester by continuing the conversation on Campus Carry with a Teach-In!

WHEN:   Friday, January 22, 2-5 pm
WHERE:  Glickman Conference Center, CLA 1.302B

Download printable flyer

Confirmed speakers include:

Matt Valentine, Plan II coordinator and contributor tor The Atlantic and other publications

Cole Hutchison, Associate Professor of English and member of the Campus Carry Working Group

Becky Bigler, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Child Research Lab

Matt Richardson, Associate Professor of English and African and African Diaspora Studies

Danielle Vabner, student

Yasmiyn Irizarry, Assistant Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies

George Schorn, author of Smile at Strangers and expert on women’s self-defense

Kate Catterall, Associate Professor of Design and teacher of a course on Campus Carry and design

Kevin Foster, Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies

Schedule:

2:00-2:15   Opening Remarks and Introductions:   Ann Cvetkovich with Matt Richardson
2:15-3:30  What We Need to Know About Gun Culture:  Becky Bigler, Matt Valentine, Cole Hutchison, Yasmiyn Irizarry
3:30-3:40  Break
3:40-3:45  Introductions:  Lisa Moore with Danielle Vabner
3:45-4:45 What We Can Do About Gun Culture:  George Schorn, Kate Catterall, Kevin Foster
4:45-5:15  General Discussion

What is Campus Carry?
Do you have questions about the law?
How will campus carry affect you and your friends?
Will guns make you safer or less safe?
How can you defend yourself without guns?

press release, updates

Responses to the report of the Campus Carry Working Group at UT Austin

GunFreeUT, December 10, 2015

Responses to the report of the Campus Carry Working Group at UT Austin

We categorically reject the recommendation that guns should be allowed in classrooms  This recommendation is based on the concern that gun carriers attending class would need to store their weapons and the act of storing them could pose a hazard  If gun carriers feel unsafe in storing their weapons, they should leave them at home.

The purpose of the university is education and the creation of new knowledge  Allowing guns in the classroom undermines that purpose by chilling free speech and infringing on academic freedom  The report has utterly failed to recommend policies that will protect these treasured traditions  We will defend our first amendment rights by every legal means possible.

The piecemeal introduction of guns into offices, dormitory public spaces, and married student housing is unwise and unworkable  Guns will inevitably make their way into inappropriate locations and will be impossible to control.

We maintain our original stance and we support the position of the Faculty Council:  Guns do not belong in “classrooms, laboratories, residence halls, university offices, and other spaces of education.”

Finally, we would like to move this discussion to a deeper and more profound level  The purported purpose of “campus carry” is for people to feel safe—they could defend themselves if necessary  This is a false idea  We need to foster research into ways to reduce gun violence and to make people feel safe without having to carry guns  That means establishing trust between the police and the public, and between the government and the public, so that we are doing the best that we can to protect all citizens.

Link to Campus Carry Policy Working Group Final Report December 2015

press release, statements by departments, students and professional organizations, updates

Graduate & Professional Students’ Opposition

For Immediate Release

Contact: utgrads.oppose.campuscarry@gmail.com
Downloadable File: UT grad student press release 12-1-15

UT-Austin Graduate and Professional Students Declare Opposition to Guns in Classrooms

Austin, TX, December 1, 2015 – 1,787 graduate and professional students from 132 programs in 18 Colleges and Schools at the University of Texas at Austin have signed a petition stating their opposition to SB 11 and sent an open letter to President Fenves and the Board of Regents.

SB 11, also known as “Campus Carry,” will allow concealed handgun license (CHL) holders to carry guns into campus buildings – including classrooms and offices – unless UT- Austin President Gregory Fenves designates them as “exclusion zones.” The online petition will be delivered to President Fenves and the Board of Regents today. Campus Carry is slated to take effect on August 1, 2016.

The graduate students are among the latest University groups to take a public stand against concealed firearms in classrooms and offices, joining more than 1,500 professors and 100 UT staff members in their opposition. In addition, 39 academic departments at the University have released statements opposing SB 11.

Among the latest departments to protest the law is the Department of Chemical Engineering. In their statement, members of the department note that, “We believe that guns in classrooms, laboratories, faculty/advising offices, and collaboration spaces would be unsafe and stifle the free exchange of ideas central to a world-class university…We also fear that SB11 may damage our ability to recruit and retain the most capable students, faculty and staff.”

Also taking an official position against SB11 are 29 American Scholarly Societies. Their combined statement notes that, “Our societies are concerned that the Campus Carry law [in Texas] and similar laws in other states introduce serious safety threats on college campuses with a resulting harmful effect on students and professors.”

In addition, 40 national professional associations have published statements opposing Texas’ Campus Carry law. The American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges issued a joint statement denouncing SB 11.

The UT-Austin Graduate Student Petition is affiliated with Gun-Free UT, a broad coalition of faculty, staff, students, parents and alumni of the University of Texas-Austin who are opposed to guns on campus and in campus buildings. Gun-Free UT’s petition on change.org has collected more than 8,400 signatures.

###

press release, updates

Politicians must follow process outlined in SB11 allowing Universities to decide where guns belong on campus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: media@gunfreeut.org
Downloadable file: GFUT press Nov. 25

GUN-FREE UT: POLITICIANS MUST FOLLOW PROCESS OUTLINED IN SB11 ALLOWING UNIVERSITIES TO DECIDE WHERE GUNS BELONG ON CAMPUS 

AUSTIN, TX, November 25, 2015 — Following a unanimous vote by UT-Austin’s Faculty Council to oppose concealed firearms in classrooms and other educational spaces,  Sen. Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury), lead author of SB11, has asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to review key aspects of the law. At stake is whether public university presidents around Texas may designate many, if not most, campus buildings as gun-free.

“The law is clear; Sen. Birdwell wrote it,” says Bryan D. Jones, the J.J. “Jake” Pickle Chair in Congressional Studies at UT-Austin and a prominent member of Gun-Free UT. “He and the Attorney General should follow the processes set out in the law, as well as those governing the university.”

Known as Campus Carry, SB11 requires public universities to allow concealed firearms into buildings, grounds and transport vehicles.  In a letter to the Attorney General, Birdwell claims that the law was written to allow concealed handguns “everywhere” on campus, and asks Paxton to issue an opinion on how universities should implement the law in advance of their own determinations.

As written, the law requires university presidents to consult “with students, staff, and faculty” to establish “reasonable rules, regulations, or other provisions” for bringing concealed firearms on campuses, as long as those rules don’t “generally prohibit or have the effect of generally prohibiting” license holders from carrying concealed guns on campus.  University Presidents or CEOs must also consider “the nature of the student population, specific safety considerations, and the uniqueness of the campus environment.”

In recent weeks, legal experts and politicians have weighed in on this issue and determined that the law, as written, gives university presidents wide latitude in determining which campus buildings can be gun-free zones. This latitude was, in fact, an eleventh-hour addition that allowed the law to pass.

A memorandum produced by legal counsel for Gun-Free UT notes that legal precedents don’t equate partial or complete restrictions of guns in academic buildings with a general prohibition on guns. The memo also notes that the University’s Handbook of Operating Procedures mandates that “policies pertaining to the general academic and welfare [of the university] must be approved by the University’s Faculty Council or its General Faculty, or both.”

“No constituency of the University wants guns in university buildings,” says Max Snodderly, professor of Neuroscience and Nutritional Sciences at UT-Austin.  “Students don’t want them, faculty don’t want them, staff don’t want them, and parents don’t want them. The president and the chancellor don’t want them. Who exactly does Birdwell represent?”

*   *   *

Gun-Free UTwas founded in August 2015 by faculty, students, staff, parents and alumni from UT-Austin following the passage of Senate Bill 11. Since then, Gun-Free UT has become a statewide movement, garnering national and international attention. Thousands at UT campuses from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley to Tyler have joined in to fight to keep concealed firearms out of dorms, classrooms and offices.

For more information on Gun-FreeUT’s legal position, click here . 

updates

GunFreeUT has retained local counsel

GunFreeUT has retained local counsel and we will be represented by the National Lawyers Guild.

We are also consulting with attorneys with the Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus who have expertise in fighting back against campus carry in other jurisdictions.

Once the administration announces its policy, we will evaluate our legal options.

press release, updates

Gun-Free UT Announcement 11-9-2015

Contact: media@gunfreeut.org
Downloadable File:  Gun-Free UT Announcement 11-9-15

AUSTIN, TX, November 9, 2015 —  Gun-Free UT will hold a rally against Campus Carry on Tuesday, November 10, from noon to 1:00pm at the West Mall on the UT-Austin campus. The event will feature live music, various speakers, including survivors of gun violence, and a special appearance by Danielle Vabner, a UT student whose brother died in the Sandy Hook massacre.

Founded in August 2015 by a handful of professors following the passage of Senate Bill 11, also known as Campus Carry, Gun-Free UT has quickly grown into a statewide movement, with thousands at UT campuses from El Paso to Tyler joining in the effort to fight the presence of concealed firearms in dorms, classrooms and offices.

At UT-Austin, the number of departments and colleges publicly opposing the law, now at 28, is growing daily. Among the latest to join the Gun-Free UT effort is the Department of Chemical Engineering. According to their public statement, “We believe that guns in classrooms, laboratories, faculty/advising offices, and collaboration spaces would be unsafe and stifle the free exchange of ideas central to a world-class university…We also fear that SB11 may damage our ability to recruit and retain the most capable students, faculty and staff.”

Beginning on August 1, 2016, Campus Carry will allow holders of concealed handgun licenses to enter any public university buildings in Texas with a concealed firearm, unless the building is officially a gun-free zone. To that end, Gun-Free UT is working to ensure safety of all students, staff and faculty by requesting that UT-Austin President Greg Fenves designate all buildings on campus as gun-free zones. As acknowledged by Steve Goode, chair of the UT Campus Carry Working Group, which is currently debating how to designate gun-free zones on campus, the vast majority of the UT community opposes Campus Carry.

Gun-Free UT is a grassroots organization of UT-Austin students, staff, faculty, parents & alumni dedicated to opposing guns on campus and to keeping them out of dorms, classrooms and offices.

#   #   #