TXST Campus Carry Revised Recommendations Released, Comments Sought

The Campus Carry Task Force at Texas State University has posted revised recommendations for the implementation of Senate Bill 11, or the Campus Carry Law, for public view and comment.

The revised draft recommendations can be accessed at this link: 

www.president.txstate.edu/campus-carry/draft-recommendations

Texas State has scheduled three public forums to gather campus and community input on the revised recommendations. The forums are open to faculty, students, staff, and community members. Each forum will last one hour. The schedules for the public forums are as follows:

• 7 p.m, Wednesday, Jan. 27, LBJ Student Center,  Room 3-14.1, San Marcos Campus
• Noon, Thursday, Jan. 28, LBJ Student Center, Room 3-14.1, San Marcos Campus
• 5:15 p.m, Tuesday, Feb. 2, Avery Building, Teaching Theater, Round Rock Campus

Additionally, the College of Liberal Arts will host a supplemental dialogue series to foster discussion of related topics. The events are free and open to the public:

• 5 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 20, “Invitation to and Open Conversation About Concealed Carry on Campus,” Location TBA
• 5 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 26, “Fear and the University,” SB 11 Roundtable Discussion, Location TBA
• 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 3, “The Deeper Causes of Our Contemporary Sense of Crisis,” SB 11 Roundtable Discussion, Location TBA
• 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 9, “Alternative Solutions to the Threat of Violence on Campus,” SB 11 Roundtable Discussion, Location TBA

The Campus Carry Law, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2015, permits concealed handgun license holders to carry a concealed handgun on university campuses, including buildings, beginning August 1, 2016. The Campus Carry Task Force at Texas State, a committee of 25 faculty and staff members, students and administrators, has been gathering input from surveys and meetings with various university stakeholders, addressing specific safety concerns.

The task force revised the original draft recommendations, taking into account public input made during three forums held in November. Additional comments from the university, San Marcos and Round Rock communities about the revisions will be taken into account before the final recommendations are made.

Students, faculty, staff and community members are encouraged to review the revised recommendations and provide the task force with comments, concerns and suggestions.

Individuals who wish to comment on the revised recommendations at any of the public forums should register to be a speaker when they first arrive at the forum. Registered speakers will be assigned a speaker number on a first-come, first-served basis.  Speakers will be seated in a special section and will line up at a standing microphone when it is their turn to speak during the public forums. Comments will be limited to 2 minutes per speaker.

When the forums have concluded, participants will be encouraged to post additional comments online at www.president.txstate.edu/campus-carry. Those not able to attend a forum and who would like to provide feedback to the task force may use the above link to post comments.

The president’s final recommendations regarding rules, policies, guidelines, signage and other appropriate documents will be presented to the Board of Regents of The Texas State University System in spring 2016 for approval.