You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
Another public university professor from Kansas has resigned citing concerns over the state’s new campus carry law. Similar to laws adopted in other states, it allows students and others age 21 and over to bring concealed firearms onto public college and university grounds.
“I cannot work in a climate in which students are fearful to claim their voices because the person next to them in my classroom may have both different views and a gun,” Deborah Ballard-Reisch, Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Chair in Strategic Communication at Wichita State University, wrote in a blog post announcing her early retirement over campus carry. “I cannot work in an environment where I am fearful to challenge my students to reach their full potential because they may have guns. I find this law to be the antithesis of everything a civil society stands for.”
As a strategic communication scholar and teacher, she added, “I find this policy to be in opposition to the goals of higher education. I see my job as supporting the personal, relational and character development of my students, as challenging them to be the best person, student, citizen they can be, as helping them to explore diverse perspectives and develop critical-thinking skills. None of these goals can be achieved in a climate of fear and repression. … To make matters worse, no gun training, no background check, no gun handler's license is required.”
Kansas passed a law in 2013 allowing guns in public buildings, but gave public colleges and universities a four-year grace period to comply. In the interim, the Kansas Legislature eliminated a permit requirement for concealed handguns.
Wichita State declined comment on the matter, saying the issue was one of state -- not campus -- policy. The new law took effect July 1, the day Ballard-Reisch retired.
Jacob Dorman, a professor of history at the University of Kansas, also publicly resigned this year over campus carry.
