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The ‘Campus
Carry’ Gun Bill Draws Opposition at UGA
by Evelyn Andrews news@flagpole.com
University of Georgia commu-
li H C nity is rallying in opposition
to the “campus carry” gun bill that received
final passage in the Georgia General
Assembly on Mar. 11 and is awaiting Gov.
Nathan Deal’s signature.
Administrators, faculty and students
have voiced concerns hoping that they will
be able to persuade Deal not to sign the
bill. Opponents of the bill say they are con
cerned about safety, the emotional stability
of students, professors leaving and threats
to a curriculum that includes controver
sial topics. UGA students have organized
marches, mobilized opposition on social
media and written letters to the governor
opposing House Bill 859.
Students March
About 100 UGA students and employees
marched from the Tate Student Center to
the Arch Mar. 16 to oppose campus carry.
Stuart Swinea, a UGA senior, said he helped
put together the march to protect his
younger peers from attending classes on
what he feels would be an unsafe campus
were the bill to be enacted.
“Several of my younger peers have said
they are very concerned for their safety on
campus next year, and a couple of them
have hinted at transferring,” he said.
Students at the march were joined
by several faculty members, including
Montgomery Wolf, a senior lecturer in the
history department, who said she is dis
mayed that the legislature has not heeded
the concerns of university faculty and
administrators. “I think it is really repre
hensible that our legislature is not listening
to the voices of leaders on campuses,” Wolf
said.
Opposition has also taken the form of
an online change.org petition created by
UGA student Paul Oshinski that has more
than 7,500 signatures. Referencing an A JC
poll conducted two years ago that found 78
percent of Georgia voters do not agree with
guns on campus, Oshinski said he thinks
the legislature’s persistence to pass this
measure is inappropriate. “I feel like it is an
overstepping of the Georgia legislature to
pass a bill that is opposed by the majority of
the people the bill will affect,” he said.
Lainey Saunders, a UGA senior, wrote
an open letter to Deal voicing her opposi
tion to campus carry and posted it on social
media. Saunders said that ever since she
first visited campus she has felt safe, but
allowing guns will end that. “Since I’ve
been here, it has been an incredible place
where people debate and they challenge
each other. I’m scared that having guns on
campus is going to completely dispel that
culture,” she said.
Saunders also referenced a controversial
presentation given at the University of
Houston during a faculty meeting address
ing concerns after a similar campus carry
bill was passed. The presentation recom
mended that professors “drop certain topics
from [their] curriculum” and “be careful
discussing sensitive topics,” among other
suggestions.
Students do have concerns about safety,
and Saunders acknowledged them. “I
understand that Athens can be dangerous;
incidents do happen, but I don’t think that
arming students is the way to change that,”
she said.
Official Opposition
Deal issued a statement Mar. 14 imply
ing he will veto the bill if substantial
changes are not made, including addressing
day care centers on campuses and dually
enrolled K-12 students who attend college
classes. The statement also said that “gov
erning boards of universities and technical
colleges should have the discretion to set
reasonable rules regarding disciplinary
hearings and faculty and administrative
offices.”
Oshinski said that Deal’s statement rec
ommending changes to the bill is a “step in
the right direction,” but he still hopes to see
it vetoed.
Jennifer Rice, an associate professor in
the geography department and a member
of Franklin Faculty Senate, said Deal’s state
ment shows the bill has major problems and
should be vetoed, although she appreciates
the fact that he has identified aspects that
need to be revised.
A social work professor, Larry Nackerud,
said he sees Deal’s statement as a sign it is
more likely to be signed. “I think the legis
lature will do what they have to do to tweak
the bill and put it in congruence with what
Gov. Deal wants, and then he will sign it,”
Nackerud said. At press time, the legisla
ture hadn’t passed another bill addressing
Deal’s concerns, and the deadline to do so is
Thursday, Mar. 24.
Deal’s statement came after University
System of Georgia Chancellor Hank
Huckaby testified against the bill in the
Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee on
Mar. 9. That evening, UGA President Jere
Morehead issued a statement supporting
Huckaby’s testimony.
University Council and Executive
Committee members at UGA also voiced
their opposition. During the Executive
Committee’s Mar. 2 meeting members
6 FLAGPOLE.COM • MARCH 23, 2016
JOSHUA L. JONES