Six percent of Tech students who filled out a 2015 Texas Tech Homecoming ballot intend to carry a concealed weapon on campus when Texas Senate Bill 11 goes into effect next August.
The nearly 3,500 respondents represented 8.4 percent of all students. The 6 percent who indicated holding a concealed handgun license amount to about 200 students.
Lacey Conklin, a junior marketing and management major, is one student who plans to take advantage of the new law. She said she recently obtained her concealed handgun license simply for protection.
“I think especially being a young girl away from my family, to me, it just makes me feel more comfortable,” Conklin said. “I didn’t get it to be the police. Last resort is to kill anyone—100 percent last resort. But for me, it’s a matter of my peace of mind and safety.”
The university’s total enrollment this semester is 35,859. If the homecoming ballot’s results were extrapolated to the entire student population, about 2,150 students might be carrying concealed guns on Tech’s campus next fall. However, the ballot’s results were not based on a random sample and are not generalizable.
SB11 allows each public Texas university’s president to determine specifically where guns may be carried on their campuses. To give students, faculty and staff a say, Texas Tech President Duane M. Nellis formed a Campus Carry Task Force, chaired by Texas Tech Provost Lawrence Schovanec.
Photo illustration. (Allison Terry/The Hub@TTU)
“Our purpose is to collect faculty, staff and student input and then make recommendations to the president as to where those guns may be allowed,” Schovanec said. “The task force chosen consists of a very broad representation of the university community, including the president of the Student Government Association.”
Other members of the task force include human resources representative Jodie Billingsley and Staff Senate President Ben Montecillo.
While students had a chance to express their opinions about campus carry on the homecoming ballot, faculty and staff could do so through an email survey sent by President Nellis.
SGA President Holton Westbrook said Texas Tech students’ safety is the task force’s main concern.
“Dr. Schovanec is all about the students,” Westbrook said. “Just know, your input on the campus carry issue and the input of your peers will prove to be utilized by the task force.”
The statistics gathered from the homecoming ballot were almost equally divided in thirds by students who would feel more safe, feel less safe, and those who feel their safety would not be affected by concealed handguns being allowed in different places on campus.
The university population is divided on campus carry, the homecoming ballot showed. Data provided by the Student Government Association.
Cassidy Keenan, a junior human sciences major, said she is terrified of guns being on the Tech campus, legally or illegally, because of gun violence incidents throughout the country, both recent and in the past.
“There’s already a problem with school shootings and shooting threats, and campus carry hasn’t even been put into place yet,” Keenan said. “I think if they put strict rules on it, it won’t be as scary and worrisome. It’s just uncomfortable to know that someone could have a gun in the classroom with you.”
Active shooter incidents have risen in the past decade, shows a September 2014 FBI report. There were 6.4 shootings a year from 2000 to 2006. Between 2007 and 2013, the number nearly tripled to 16.4 shootings a year, on average.
The homecoming ballot showed most respondents would feel less safe if concealed guns were allowed in certain areas of campus. Data provided by the Student Government Association.
Johannes Dahl, an assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences, who is originally from Germany, is concerned about campus carry. Germany is known for some of the strictest gun control laws in the world.
“It’s one of those things that just by my nature I will always have a problem with,” Dahl said. “So, now hearing that guns are welcome on campus, this is something completely not understandable to me. It’s something that I find threatening and uncomfortable.”
Photo illustration. (Allison Terry/ The Hub@TTU)
Dahl said he knew what he was getting himself into when he applied to Texas Tech—the university motto is “Guns Up,” after all. But, he said that because of his background, he will never get used to the free availability of guns in the U.S.
A poll hosted by the Hub@TTU showed 60 of 121 respondents echo Dahl’s concern. The other half favor SB11.
Capt. Stephen Hinkle of the Texas Tech Police Department said the department trains monthly for active shooter scenarios and offers active shooter training to any on-campus organization or group that requests it.
In a video published on the Texas Tech System’s YouTube channel, seen below, Chancellor Robert Duncan says university administrators and faculty generally oppose campus carry.
Arnold Loewy, a professor at the Texas Tech School of Law who specializes in criminal and constitutional law, had but one thing to say about concealed carry on this campus.
“I think if students don’t like my class and have something to say about it, they have the right to say that on the class evaluation at the end of the semester,” Loewy said. “They do not, however, have the right to shoot me.”
Kaitlin Kravik contributed to this story.
About Breann Robinson
