No changes to firearms on campus for now

In close vote, UW trustees reject proposed concealed carry into facilities

LARAMIE — The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees narrowly voted Friday morning against allowing concealed carry permit holders to take firearms into campus facilities.

Before a 6-5 vote following tense discussions all week, Trustee Macey Moore said that the entire process felt like a “giant disruption” to the university’s mission.

Moore said the trustees worked hard to create a policy that might satisfy lawmakers’ concerns — especially those who support a repeal of Wyoming’s gun free zones — while also excluding places such as the residence halls, Half Acre Recreation and Wellness Center, and Early Childhood Education Center, places in which members of the university community clearly said they do not want firearms allowed.

Concealed carry permit holders are currently allowed to carry firearms on university open spaces such as Prexy’s Pasture, but not inside facilities, classrooms and faculty offices.

Trustees voting against the rule change were Vice Chair Michelle Sullivan, Treasurer Laura Schmid-Pizzato, Secretary Brad Bonner, David Fall, Carol Linton and Moore. Those voting for the changes were Chair Kermit Brown, Brad LaCroix, Jim Mathis, John McKinley and Dave True.

The draft rule on the table Friday morning for the final day of a three-day trustees meeting excluded residence halls, Half Acre Recreation and Wellness Center and the Early Care and Education Center. It also deleted an earlier provision that would have created reciprocity for permit holders from other states, so only Wyoming concealed carry permit holders would have been allowed to carry firearms into other facilities on campus, including classrooms.

“(Those exclusions) make it feel slightly safer, but that is just the problem for me,” Moore said. “Why are we changing our regulation and carving out additional items to make us feel slightly safer? This seems like a giant disruption to our mission, and I feel like we are being pushed into this to appease something that might be coming, and might be even worse. I just can’t do that.”

Schmid-Pizzato, who said she is a gun owner herself, said she could not support the rule change as, in her estimation, nearly 95% of all public comment, survey responses and communication were against allowing concealed carry into UW facilities.

Fall explained his “no” vote saying that he has a “fundamental belief ... that guns do not belong in schools.”

Sullivan said she was “moved” by a discussion with a group of trustee scholars Thursday night.

“To a student, there was concern about the change of this rule,” Sullivan said. “And we had overwhelming response from our community that they are opposed to this, and they felt that it would make this community less safe.”

Sullivan said she appreciated the work of the trustees’ legislative committee, which worked hard to thread a needle between what lawmakers and the university community wanted, but that she could not support the change.

“Based on what I have heard from this community, and my own knowledge of human development and adolescent development, I cannot support the change of this rule,” she said.

Before the vote, Wyoming State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, who sits as an ex-officio (non-voting) member of the board, said she supported expanding concealed carry into UW facilities.

“I think this is a really important step forward for Second Amendment protections for people in Wyoming,” Degenfelder said.

Ben Moritz, Wyoming Community College Commission executive director, said that a similar discussion is happening on community college campuses across the state, and that staff, students and faculty have expressed similar concerns about firearms at sporting events and places where mental health treatment is offered.

He suggested working with the trustees to bring a unified message to lawmakers in January as they discuss a statewide repeal of gun-free zones.

Trustees who did vote for the rule change urged their colleagues who did not to approach the 68th Wyoming Legislature, which will convene on Jan. 14, with their concerns.

“Looking around, only one trustee actually went over to the Legislature last year and dealt with the gun bill,” said McKinley, chairman of the board’s legislative committee. “I am going to gently encourage all the trustees to physically go to the Legislature and you have to express your concerns and provide solutions so our current regulation, as I heard expressed is the preference, remains.”

Board Chairman Brown, a former lawmaker, said McKinley’s message was “stark and clear.”

“You’ve got to appear over there, and if you don’t, I think we are going to have a result that you like a lot less than this rule,” Brown said. “I don’t want to front-run the Legislature either, but the handwriting is on the wall.”

This story was published on November 23, 2024.