The University of Texas system is asking its 14 constituent campuses to devise rules for complying with the state’s new law allowing people to carry concealed handguns on college campuses, reports The Texas Tribune.
In a memorandum released on Tuesday, a task force convened by the system said the Board of Regents would review the campuses’ proposals and then issue formal rules this spring. The controversial law, which has generated widespread concern among faculty members since it was enacted last spring, takes effect on August 1 on four-year campuses and in 2017 at community colleges.
In the memo, the task force recommended that guns be prohibited in five areas — stadiums, labs with dangerous chemicals, labs with animals, child-care centers, and hospitals and clinics — but it did not take a position on classrooms and dormitories, two areas that have attracted the most concern. State legislators have said that banning guns in those areas would violate the law.
The law covers all colleges and universities in the state, but private institutions have taken advantage of a provision allowing them to opt out.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/u-of-texas-system-seeks-campus-input-on-rules-for-new-gun-law/107812