Opinions

Easing gun restrictions is wrong for the University of Alaska

Recently, Alaska state legislators introduced Senate Bill 174, a bill that is second only to the budget in terms of the impact it will have on the future of the University of Alaska. SB 174 would allow the possession of concealed firearms anywhere on a university campus -- even inside dorms -- and overturn existing university regulations on campus safety stating that guns must be kept in cars or locked storage. Although I am a conservative and a firm believer in gun rights, as a student I cannot support SB 174 or the effect it would have on our university campuses.

Allowing guns to be carried in our classrooms, labs, study areas and dorms is simply a bad idea that would create an unsafe environment. The University of Alaska is and always should be a learning environment, somewhere students are challenged to grow and look beyond their own ideas and feelings. Professors and teaching assistants have to give bad grades and encourage students to stretch themselves. Advisers need to have uncomfortable conversations with struggling students and help them become better students and people. Resident assistants -- who are students themselves -- often have to confront students who, caught up in the excitement of living away from home for the first time, haven't yet come to understand the boundaries of appropriate behavior. And while the vast majority of students are reasonable and intelligent people, there are exceptions, just as in every large community. I have seen a student, angered by a C+ on his midterm, yell and storm out of a classroom. My friends who work in dormitories tell me about rare instances where they felt uncomfortable confronting a student and their friends. How much harder would those situations have been if guns were involved? I think the campus police blotters would get much more violent.

Proponents of the bill may argue that SB 174 would make the situations I described safer, since professors and resident assistants who felt unsafe could carry their own firearms. Frankly, this is not true and betrays a misunderstanding of university culture. For one thing, resident assistants may not be able to conceal and carry, as many of them are under 21, the legal minimum for concealed carry in Alaska. Open carry is not much better, as that would create an unsafe, uncomfortable environment for the students living in the dorms.

Additionally, guns are unlikely to be carried on campuses under any circumstances by professors, resident assistants or other authority figures. The culture of UA is one of safety, comfort and familiarity. Telling people who feel comfortable on campus that they need to carry firearms would introduce a new element of fear that is not needed or wanted. As someone who spends hours on campus nearly every day, I would hate to see the culture that has welcomed me so thoroughly and done so much to make me who I am threatened.

However, the Legislature is not the proper place to debate whether guns should or should not be allowed on campus. The state of Alaska has given authority to the university's Board of Regents so that they can decide which policies are appropriate for the institution. The regents and the administrators who work for them are the ones familiar with the needs and wants of the campus, and they know how to best ensure the safety of students. They are the ones who communicate on a daily basis with students, staff and faculty. They know that the bill isn't needed -- that there are few violations of existing gun policies and that campus safety can be best addressed in other ways. They know that SB 174 is not wanted by students and would turn open environments for learning into unsafe, fearful places.

The Board of Regents, not the Legislature, knows the university and what is good for our campuses. As a community, students, staff, faculty and alumni trust regents to make the right choice. I hope our Legislature can too.

Mathew Carrick just graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a bachelor's degree in economics and is starting a master's in business administration there. He is president of UAF student government and serves as chair of the Coalition of Student Leaders, a statewide alliance of UA student governments. He works at the UAF Alumni Association and enjoys hiking, playing with his dog and volunteering.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any web browser.

Mathew Carrick

Mathew Carrick just graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a bachelor's degree in economics and is starting a master's in business administration there. He is president of UAF student government and serves as chair of the Coalition of Student Leaders, a statewide alliance of UA student governments. He works at the UAF Alumni Association and enjoys hiking, playing with his dog, and volunteering.

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