Statement from UT Dallas

Campus Carry Plan

April 11, 2016

Members of The University of Texas at Dallas community:

As most of you are aware, the Texas Legislature in 2015 passed Senate Bill 11, which authorizes individuals licensed by the state to carry concealed handguns to carry them onto the campuses and into the buildings of state-governed institutions of higher education. This law takes effect August 1, 2016. Senate Bill 11 also provided the presidents of these institutions with the authority to recommend to their governing boards the details of how their campuses would comply with this law.

This past Friday, April 8, I forwarded a letter and my recommendations (pdf) regarding this issue to Chancellor William McRaven of The University of Texas System.

My recommendations are based primarily on the extensive and intensive considerations of this issue by the UT Dallas Campus Carry Working Group that I formed last fall. This Group was chaired by Dr. Alex R. Piquero, Ashbel Smith Professor of Criminology and Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, and was comprised of 17 members representing all dimensions of the UT Dallas community. Through weekly meetings, the Group discussed the various aspects of Senate Bill 11 and how best to implement them. Our goal was to develop policies that would comply with the law while maintaining the maximum safety and security of UT Dallas students, staff, faculty, and guests. These considerations, along with input from the all-campus town hall held in September 2015, the many submissions to the campus carry email account, and my discussions with Police Chief Larry Zacharias, with our faculty governance group, and with other university presidents, provided the foundation for the policies I recommended to our Board of Regents.

There is still much work to be done before August 1, since the policies I have recommended, assuming that they are approved, must be implemented in a variety of details. To assist the UT Dallas administration in this ongoing task, I am appointing a Campus Carry Implementation Working Group that will be headed once again by Professor Piquero. This Group will work on the various guidelines, rules, and practices that are associated with implementing Senate Bill 11, such as signage with respect to gun-exclusion zones.

Professor Piquero and this Working Group also will monitor and assess on an ongoing basis the impacts of implementing Senate Bill 11 on students, faculty, staff, and guests. This Group will bring all such concerns to the attention of the president, and we will make all possible adjustments that are consistent with Senate Bill 11 to prioritize the safety and security of our campus.

I deeply appreciate the collegial, professional, and mature manner in which the UT Dallas community has dealt with this issue. It is our collective desire that UT Dallas looks and feels the same after August 1, 2016, as it always has: a community of dedicated faculty and staff and ambitious, high-achieving students, all striving to make important contributions to the community, state, nation, and the world through research, education, and service.

Sincerely,

Hobson Wildenthal, President ad interim