Iowa city Press Citizen, IA
09-06-07
History profs vote down arming police
Only department so far to weigh in
By Brian Morelli
Iowa City Press-Citizen
One segment of the University of Iowa faculty has spoken out against arming campus police, but it is unclear how much impact that will have on the controversial decision of whether public university police officers should carry guns.
Twenty-two of the 32 professors in the history department that were present at a departmental meeting Friday unanimously approved a resolution opposing the arming of UI's police.
"Members of the department feel strongly that the presence of guns on campus would do nothing to deter episodic violence, such as the recent tragedy at
Virginia Tech, while posing a substantial risk, especially on a campus noted for its high misdemeanor arrest rate," the resolution stated.
The resolution was sent to various leaders across campus, including Faculty
Senate President Victoria Sharp and UI president Sally Mason, who ultimately will make a recommendation on the topic to the Iowa state Board of Regents.
"We don't pretend we will have a lot of impact on (the decision)," history department chairman Colin Gordon said Wednesday. "We felt it was important to express our feeling when there was a clear consensus of the department."
Gordon noted that there is high instance of misdemeanor arrests at UI, and therefore a high interaction between students and police.
"If you have that routine confrontation between students and police, we see only peril in having arms in that situation," Gordon said.
Sharp said it was the first such resolution she'd received from a faculty group. On
Monday, she joined with 11 others on the Faculty Council, an executive branch of the Faculty Senate, in supporting arming campus police. Three voted against it, including Jeffrey Cox, a history professor.
"I am not hearing much from faculty one way or the other about it," Sharp said. "I think the people that are getting educated may initially react one way, but they are changing their minds."

Sharp said the input would be considered, and she encouraged people to attend a public forum on the topic from 4 to 5 p.m. today in C20 Pomerantz Center.
Gov. Chet Culver asked the universities to review campus security after the
Virginia Tech massacre. The regents are expected to review the topic of arming police at its next board meeting, and requested recommendations from each university by Monday.
UI is one of the few universities nationwide where campus police don't carry guns. UI police do receive the same training and have the same credentials as other officers. Regents put the policy in place in 1969 in the midst of the Vietnam era.
So far, campus police and some vice presidents from UI, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa have gone on record in support of letting police carry weapons. UNI faculty members are against it.