Bullets and Books by Legislative Fiat: Why Academic Freedom and Public Policy Permit Higher Education Institutions to Say No to Guns
28 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2013
Date Written: August 1, 2011
Abstract
After the horrific 2007 Virginia-Tech shooting massacre when thirty-two students were killed, a highly contentious battle ensued over whether students with concealed handgun licenses (“CHLs”) should be able to carry firearms for protection on public higher education campuses. The January 8, 2011, Tucson, Arizona shooting rampage propelled this issue back into the limelight, prompting a litany of states to reconsider whether CHL holders at colleges should be able to secretly arm themselves. One state, Utah, has had legislation forcing post-secondary institutions to permit CHL holders to carry firearms on campus since 2001. This article makes the case for why legislation like Utah’s violates the academic freedom of those institutions that want to remain gun-free. The Supreme Court has recognized that academic freedom gives universities the liberty to decide how its students should be taught, and implicit in this right is the right to decide how to best ensure student safety. Thus, institutions should be able to decide their own firearm policies. This article contends academic freedom is a constitutionally protected right, and any law threatening it should be strictly scrutinized. As explained in detail in the article, the legislation cannot survive strict scrutiny. For the many policy reasons outlined in the article, I conclude that firearms should be banned, or at the very least, higher education institutions should be able to determine their own weapons policies. Whether legislators should be setting colleges’ firearm policies should be of particular concern to law students and faculty who, because of the uniquely highly competitive and pressurized nature of law school, are at a greater risk than their undergraduate counterparts of becoming the victim of a violent crime if firearms become prevalent on campus.
Keywords: guns, firearms, post-secondary schools, campus, higher education institutions, colleges, universities, strict scrutiny, academic freedom, public policy
JEL Classification: K30, H70, H77, I18, J18
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation