Fall 2017 Campus Carry message from the President

Fall 2017 Email Message from the University President to the Campus Community Announcing the Review of Campus Carry Rules and Policy After the First Year of Implementation

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,

As I promised to do when we implemented the Campus Carry rules on Texas State University Campuses last year, we have begun the process of conducting a holistic review of the Texas State Campus Carry rules and policy after the first year of implementation. During the 2016-2017 implementation year, many of you used the online post-implementation survey to provide suggestions to me about how our implementation of the Campus Carry rules on our campuses can be improved. I want to thank you for providing this important feedback. After reviewing these suggestions, monitoring the implementation of the Campus Carry rules on our campuses, and reviewing the implementation of Campus Carry rules at peer institutions, I have decided to propose the addition of the following designated gun-free locations to our policy:

  • A private staff and/or faculty sole occupant office at the option of the office occupant; and
  • A testing center during the time period that the site is being used to administer a test where the accreditation standards for the test administrator require that the test be administered in a gun-free testing environment.

I have reconvened the Campus Carry Task Force to work fall 2017, to consider the post-implementation suggestions we have received and the addition of the proposed designated gun-free locations, obtain additional feedback from the campus community, hold public hearings to vet tentative recommendations, and provide me with its final recommendations.

As an additional method of hearing your voices concerning changes to the Texas State University Campus Carry rules and policy, during the next four weeks, I invite you to share your opinions, comments, and suggestions with us by using the new online survey that can be found on the Campus Carry website: www.txstate.edu/campuscarry. In addition to this survey tool, this website contains a robust array of resources that I hope you find helpful including: Frequently Asked Questions about Campus Carry, links to our Campus Carry rules, the University Policy and Procedure Statement that addresses the concealed carrying of handguns by licensed holders on University premises, General Notice Statements to be used on websites and documents, Best Practices Guidelines for Creating a Safe Classroom Environment, Best Practices Guidelines for Creating a Safe Meeting Environment, and links to Campus Safety Information. I encourage you to engage in the process of reviewing our Campus Carry rules and policy. I am proud of the way our campus community has implemented this mandatory legislation by working collaboratively to create rules and a policy that has allowed our campuses to continue to provide a safe academic environment while achieving our educational mission. I look forward to receiving your input, the Task Force recommendations, and updating our Campus Carry rules and policy to present to the Board of Regents of The Texas State University System for approval.

Sincerely,

Denise M. Trauth

President, Texas State University