Iowa City Press Citizen, IA
09-12-07
Mason supports arms for police
By Brian Morelli
Iowa City Press-Citizen
University of Iowa president Sally Mason matched the presidents from Iowa’s two
other regent universities in recommending that certified campus police regularly
carry guns.
UI, Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa released today the
recommendations that were sent to the Iowa state Board of Regents. The
regents are set to review the recommendations at their Sept. 18-19 board
meeting in Council Bluffs.
If approved by the regents, this would reverse the disarmament policy put in
place 43 years ago.
“The university community embraces and celebrates openness, yet also
understands that there are people who will take advantage of openness,
including people with weapons,” Mason wrote was her rationale in a letter to
Regent Executive Director Gary Steinke on Tuesday.
“We must find the appropriate balance between the openness we cherish and
our responsibility to protect students, faculty and staff, and our visitors — and the
protection of the police officers we ask to assure our safety.”
On the UI campus, the controversial issue drew mixed views. Speakers at a
public forum of faculty, staff, students and community members appeared evenly
split. Organized campus bodies were also divided.
Faculty groups in the departments of history and English unanimously voted
against arming the police. However, the encompassing body, the Faculty Senate,
endorsed arming police, albeit in a tight vote. The student government, two vice
presidents and the Faculty Council, the executive body of the Faculty Senate,
also supported officers carrying guns.
The Staff Council is set to take up the issue today.