Kansas State University’s current weapons policy reads, “…the campus of each state university shall be weapons free.” After legislators voted in 2012 to allow concealed-carry in most public buildings, however, that policy’s days were numbered. With the four-year exemption granted to universities ending in July 2017, K-State has drafted a new policy that will give law-abiding gun owners the same rights on campus that they have elsewhere.
While the new draft won’t be reviewed by the Board of Regents until later this month, some ivory-tower academics are already predicting doom and gloom. English professor Elizabeth Dodd called the policy a “dangerous experiment” and a “gamble,” and has decided to take her displeasure with the law out on her students: “I have an open-door policy. I am available to the university community,” Dodd said. “This will stop.”
But many students support the law, including chemistry sophomore Rose Micke, who believes it will make K-State safer. “If there was an on-campus shooter, there’s more people that can bring them down as opposed to just campus security,” Micke said.
