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• Campuses are very safe places overall - yet campuses by design create tensions for young persons to train them for the workforce. These tensions may have never been experienced before, which is why they help train a workforce. ; ; Locations were these new tensions find expression or are experienced have always been special security concerns for faculty.
Especially important are large classrooms where the size prevents faculty from knowing every student and in faculty offices where private academic advising, tutoring and possible disciplinary concerns arise.
• That these gun-free zones should be as large as the letter of the law allows.
• Guns should not be allowed in classrooms.
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That we think that guns on campus is a bad idea.
• Fear of student retaliation for poor performance in a course.
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That we should violate the legislative mandate and ban guns on campus. This should be decided in the courts.
• The most important point: guns should be prohibited in classrooms and offices.
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This is insane and should be fought legally. You are risking the faculty and student safety because a politician wanted to grandstand with a decision that is morally and ethically and scientifically wrong
• Classrooms of any size “not just 5 or more” should be gun-free zones as well.
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Guns are dangerous, college is stressful, lethal combination
• Gun-free offices; 2) gun-free classrooms
• The most important point is that the campus needs to be educated about this issue. It seems at this time that there is a lot of fear about the unknown and rather than being educated on the issue people are panicking and not getting all the facts. This needs to be a discussion and not witch hunt.
• Don’t assume that faculty do not wish to carry guns. Some faculty may actually want to carry guns. I’m one of them.
• I feel intimidated and want as little contact with students as possible. Forget about an "open door policy".
• The cost of implementing restrictions will be high. Is it something we can afford?
• There should be NO guns allowed on campus - period. I plan to leave Texas Tech to find another job if it comes to pass that guns are to be allowed on campus - anywhere!
Especially my classroom and my office!
• Faculty offices should be considered a required "gun-free" zone in any decision regarding this legislation. If not, then the university must confront faculty unwilling to hold open-door office hours even when not "in" a designated office hour.
• I believe that the two most important locations which should be "gun-free" are the classrooms and professor’s offices!!

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• The faculty cannot fearlessly discuss the performance of a student with him/her in case the student is carrying a weapon.
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School shootings are going to occur regardless of "gun free zones" being established on campuses, because those who will use their guns for violent purposes are not going to obey the rules/laws. therefore these types of restrictions just impact those who do obey the rules/laws.
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Concealed carry will impact so few students that concerns about student gun carry are vastly overblown. There should be NO restrictions on carry.
• can certain times of the year be designated gun free times? ; such as during exams and a few days immediately before and after, etc.
• Qualified faculty should have the right to conceal carry in their offices.
• Ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression on campus has to be the top priority. Students should still feel comfortable to express different opinions in an academic setting without having to fear weapons.
• During the drafting of the policy.
• No guns!
• The legislative mandate is ill-founded, not justifiable, and reckless. Faculty input is essential.
• Safety and lives of faculty and staff members or anyone associated with the University be protected from gun violence. I would personally be OK with security inside of the building to deter any attacks. As a concealed carry permit holder, I would prefer to carry my own weapon to protect myself should the need arise.
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I think the legislation is misguided and the universities should step up and fight it.
• The increased number of places you allow guns, in my opinion, directly correlates to the likelihood of my family having to attend my funeral.
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Reduce carrying of guns to campus to the possible minimum
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I think it’s crucial that classrooms and faculty offices be "gun-free" zones. The presence of firearms in either of these areas will have a chilling effect of academic freedom. It will also create a hostile and unsafe working environment where I personally would not feel comfortable performing the duties I was hired to do.
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The special circumstances and mental health re: the student body of the respective college
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This is quite an odd question considering the number of options presented in the original questionnaire. Weapons of any sort should be banned/discouraged from situations that are or may be high-stress environments for students, staff, faculty, and the public.
• We are opposed to campus carry. We are not stupid, and we note that it is still against the law to have concealed carry in the legislature and Texas government buildings. I am more afraid of all of these additional armed people on campus than I would be of the possibility of a random attack. How do we take a stand against this law? Give us a means of making our voices heard.
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Campus carry adds tension to the student-faculty relationship and dilutes the faculty’s mandate to give fair and critical evaluations of students. It scares faculty members.
• Guns should not play any role in college education.

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• That appropriate measurements are taken to ensure that large classes, student union, and faculty offices are gun-free zones.
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That there are many faculty who feel entirely conflicted because we feel that we need to have a firearm available to us to be safe, and yet we don’t like all of the negative impacts that guns in our classrooms may have.
• If conceal carry is NOT allowed in faculty office, that means, faculty [not just students] are not permitted to conceal carry (or even securely store their otherwise lawful weapon) in their own office. For those that choose to conceal carry, having their own personal office as a
‘gun free’ zone forces these individuals to not be allowed to conceal carry at all on campus since their weapon would then have to be secured in their vehicle. This is a serious issue for faculty that want to exercise the right to conceal carry on campus and in their workplace.
• How to keep faculty safe from students unsatisfied about a grade
• How this mandate will threaten academic freedom in the classroom.
• We already have to be careful about meeting alone with students because of risks to the faculty member. To be in an office alone with an armed student really compromises our ability to carry out our faculty responsibilities--which does involve having limited authority over our students. Especially since we are required to hold office hours, it is unreasonable to put us at special one-on-one risk when we do. I don’t think it would help matters for me to have a gun lying on my desk to give the student pause.
• That the University should have a registration system for those wishing to carry guns.
Faculty should then be notified of students in their classes who are authorized to carry.
• Those wishing to commit crimes don’t care about "gun free" zones. By making "gun free" zones you only restrict the ability of law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves. Either the entire campus must be "gun free," excepting law enforcement, or none of it should be designated as such.
• How they can feel safe whether or not they obtain CCHL during the time of an active shooter or other crises on campus.
• There are many important points: When will we receive "active shooter" instruction? Is the
University providing additional peace officers, or are the faculty supposed to assume the role of cop/soldier? If I act as a "good Samaritan" in a shooting and inadvertently injure or kill an innocent bystander, does the University’s insurance cover me? What if I am an innocent bystander? Several buildings have teaching, research, and office space on the same floor-how can my safety be assured if faculty offices (if campus carry is disallowed, or at faculty discretion) are adjacent to areas where campus carry is allowed? Is the University going to provide counseling about all this?
• Guns will not help students learn. ; ; Allowing students to have guns outside of my office and preventing me from having a gun at all because I spend a lot of time in my office doesn’t make any sense. So anyone’s answer to #1 is irrelevant. No one can bring guns, or we all can bring guns. Pick one.
• We need to address the legislative mandate in creative and sincere manner while educating our students on the concerns that are expressed by the university community concerning this legislative mandate. We need to have an honest discussion about what and what is not possible.
• We/I don’t want guns in academic buildings or places of instruction.

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• About gun free zones as places were unarmed people are at the mercy of bad armed people.
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Multiple sources have indicated that some faculty have guns on campus right now. Why do faculty believe they need this protection? Also, why are they willing to risk getting caught with a gun in a "gun-free-zone?" Why will making possessing guns legally on campus make faculty less safe?
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I would really like to know who in my class has a cdl so I can be prepared if an incident occurs
• Faculty offices (and this includes the offices of librarians) are centers of high-stress. If these areas are not to be gun-free, then faculty should be given infinitely more time, resources, and education to determine how to deal with highly stressed people who are carrying weapons into their offices. THEIR OFFICES.
• Assuming that faculty will also be permitted to carry concealed guns if they have a concealed permit, faculty offices should not be a gun-free zone. Where would faculty place their gun when in their own offices?
• If legal, I would like to have concealed carry weapons banned in all academic buildings.
• The university or legislature needs to provide protective equipment for faculty and staff since firearms are now a workplace hazard.
• This stupid law is going to make it even harder to recruit and retain good faculty, but I’m sure the university committee has figured that out on its own.
• NO GUNS OR WEAPONS IN CLASSROOMS!!!
• All campus entities should be gun free
• Providing armed police in every room.
• Safety of the faculty needs to be just as important as the safety of the students. Politicians may not have taken into account to possibility of students using guns as a means of intimidation towards faculty for outcomes concerning their performance in the classroom.
Faculty offices should be a gun-free zone so faculty feel comfortable meeting with students one-on-one without fear of retaliation with gun-related violence or intimidation. ; Students, even with concealed-carry licenses, are not trained to handle violent situations the was police officers are and would not be helpful if a mass shooting event were to occur on campus. If anything, students carrying concealed weapons would only escalate a violent attack by promoting more bullets to be in the air without proper emergency training, endangering even more people’s lives. If mass shooting events on campus are a concern for the administration, increasing campus security with properly trained emergency protocols will be more effec
• All campus entities should be gun free
• Some places should always be gun free in all circumstances at all times. These places include all classrooms at all times regardless, and any faculty/staff office unless the specific faculty/staff member wants to permit guns in their individual office. I also ask the university administration if they plan to buy and issue firearms to all of the teaching staff so that the teaching staff has some mechanism to defend themselves against this clearly poorly thought out legislation. I am opposed to any firearms on campus under any circumstances in any location.

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• Students are not well adjusted and cannot be trusted to receive grades without violent opposition.
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This is too broad of a question. Are you referring to the Faculty Offices or are you addressing Gun free zones campus wide?
• Because of age restrictions for concealed carry, faculty will be the most likely people to be able to carry on campus, so I don’t think you can make their offices gun-free zones. ; ;
Concealed carry puts faculty in a difficult spot as mediators between those carrying and those uncomfortable with it. It’s another responsibility added onto our teaching responsibility.
It will create unease in the classroom, and the faculty will have to address that, regardless of our individual opinions on the mandate.
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To a disturbing degree this issue pits faculty, many of whom oppose the mandate, versus students, many of whom support the mandate. The dynamics of power between students and faculty is already complex. This law destabilizes that dynamic, and places one more obstacle in the way of education.
• Each semester, we have a number of dissatisfied students (not receiving the grade they want). Most students (75% or so) calmly and professionally discuss this matter with the faculty member, about 15-2% are not happy and express their displeasure but remain non confrontational, about 5% or so become quit emotional at times. This small percentage are the ones we may have to worry about. How will this small fraction be dealt with?
• Guns don’t belong on Texas university, college and community college campuses, concealed or otherwise. ; ; The presence of, or perceived possible presence of, guns is antithetical to open discourse in an environment that should be open and intimidation-free.
• Law abiding citizens that have completed the proper background checks, training, and certification requirements should be able to conceal carry anywhere on campus. I WILL
FEEL MUCH SAFER KNOWING THAT CONCEALED CARRY IS AVAILABLE IN ALL
LOCATIONS ON CAMPUS. Criminals often target people in "gun free" zones. Therefore, I want law abiding citizens to also have concealed carry options to deter or deal with criminal threats.
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I am not comfortable with armed students in my office. However I would be ok with staff
(non-student) employees carrying in the building.
• As a faculty member, I don’t see why students should be able to carry weapons on campus.
We should be considered about safety for ourselves and others, as well as looking at longterm effects of recruiting faculty members to come to Texas Tech.
• If this campus carry legislation is approved, the university becomes a dangerous and hostile work place. I am sure that many faculty members will look for jobs elsewhere as no one will feel safe working for TTU under these circumstances. ; ; We will see problems with assigning grades, in-class discussions, and many of the things that we now somehow expect.
• Guns have no place on a college campus. But, since the new legislation makes this discussion necessary, my opinion is that anywhere that intellectual debate occurs, classrooms, offices, the library, etc, should be "gun-free". I think locations where large groups gather, and the most damage could be done by a shooter, should be "gun-free", too.
This includes the theaters, athletic venues, and the student union building.
• While it is essential to make offices gun-free, it is more important to keep the campus gunfree. This mandate is making the university less safe for students, staff, and faculty. Why

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would be parents send their children here or work here if they had other options? I don’t want student’s living/learning in fear and/or faculty or staff working in fear and thus overeating to each other’s emotions. Time for Texas Tech is to do the right thing and oppose this mandate. Any thought of increasing campus police presence rather than arming students, staff, and faculty?
• If this campus carry legislation is approved, the university becomes a dangerous and hostile work place. I am sure that many faculty members will look for jobs elsewhere as no one will feel safe working for TTU under these circumstances. ; ; We will see problems with assigning grades, in-class discussions, and many of the things that we now somehow expect.
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Guns do not belong in the classrooms, in the dorms, in any buildings, (I bet there will be no guns allowed in the administration building or guards will be around it more) or in our offices.
If the argument is that are used for "sport", then place them in some sporting zone. If the argument is that they are for "defensive" purposes, then hire more police.
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Guns should not be allowed on campus anywhere that emotions are running high - i. e.
Sporting events or faculty offices where often disappointed students must discuss academic matters with professors.
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Every single faculty member I know is opposed to campus carry. That is what the committee should hear. o Make every effort to curtail guns on campus wherever possible. ; 2. Take a stand about the importance of mental health screening and limiting access to guns for mentally unstable individuals. ; 3. Actively promote a research-based understanding of the issue.
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Disagree with the mandate. All schools should be gun free.
• I personally believe that the most-important gun-free zones would be where student services and health services are provided on campus, such as the Psychology Clinic, Student
Counseling Center, Wellness Center (health services), Family and Marriage Therapy Clinic,
CDRC in Human Sciences, and so forth are located.
• Just 1? That all of the the faculty and the students that I have spoken to in my area are against this mandate, they know how stressed people are here, they are worried about it, and they will not feel safe (and even if offices are "gun-free" zones, if they are in a building that isn’t, that rule won’t help any if someone is going to go on a rampage. Therefore, we should have the right to no longer have open office doors/drop in hours and require everyone to schedule meetings.)
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Concealed carry holders are specifically trained and screened by the Government to uphold the law and be responsible for protection of victims of oppression. They should be encouraged to carry, not otherwise.
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Texas Tech is striving to attain AAU-like status. For that purpose, we will have to hire the best faculty candidates possible. Such hires will be more difficult if not core areas are made gun-free.
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We should make the entire campus "gun-free" zone.
• I do not agree guns should be allowed on campus. Any restriction (classroom, faculty office, etc.) would be an approvement of the legislative mandate.
• Guns have no place whatsoever in an institution of higher learning. They make both professors and students feel threatened and create an atmosphere of fear and mistrust.

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They imply that campuses are so dangerous that the only option is to prepare for a "gunfight at the OK Corral" scenario, while at the same time they make such a scenario much more likely.
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Why is it of concern that guns be excluded from faculty offices but not student offices or staff offices?
• We want protection! How will the University provide this protection? What steps can be taken to mitigate this threat?
• It is essential to have gun-free zones. This is no longer the Wild West. Most civilized societies function in gun-free environments, especially with regards to public and educational places, and government buildings and establishments.
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I am worried that weapons might allow otherwise uncomfortable situations become lifethreatening, and I am concerned that such worries will have a corrosive effect on the ability of faculty to bring up difficult issues or to give students the poor grades they sometimes earn. The rules accepted should minimize those risks.
• As many restrictions to the rule as legally possible, please.
• Faculty may avoid interactions with students for fear that their actions might be subject to possible gun-related incidents.
• The faculty needs to be educated and trained to handle potential problems with angry students carrying weapons.
• WE can’t be effective educators if we are going to be intimidated. I don’t want to see any student carrying a gun in my office. What bargain do we have if a student says he wants the midterm to be moved to some other date while carrying a gun in MY OFFICE. IF that’s the case, I will hold the minimum office hours and won’t see anyone outside office hours. My office won’t be open to students. Having people armed in clasrooms and offices is a really dangerous idea. I do not want my students to be worried with another student who is carrying a gun. Their right to carry a weapon inflicts in my right for free speech. And what if the gun is not secured? In my view students should vote (Say in blackboard) on whether their peers can carry a gun, or perhaps the professor. I do not want someone carrying a gun in every class. Teaching interaction with students will suffer due to this idea.
• In regards to the faculty office question above. Would banning guns from faculty offices imply that faculty could not carry guns? While I don’t want students bringing guns into my office, I’m not sure that every faculty member would want their own gun banned from their office. ; But there are a few important points I want to make. 1. Allowing guns in the classroom will alter the teaching relationship. Police officers have to maintain a command persona when carrying a side arm, and a teacher in an armed classroom would have to maintain a command persona as a manager of an armed assembly. 2. Students drawing weapons in an emergency situation would likely escalate into a tragic chaos. Being able to pass a permit class, being able to hit a paper silhouette, and playing Halo on the xbox do not make an armed student anything more than a menace in a live fire situation. 3. I want the University to provide more free life insurance.
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Faculty have a responsibility to create a safe environment in their classrooms and I would like for the committee to seek feedback from faculty about how campus carry impedes (or not) this obligation and, in turn, affects teaching and learning.
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Certain fields of study make it nearly impossible to carry a concealed weapon. I’m concerned as to what happens to the weapon when they are not supposed to bring it into

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my office... or my rehearsal studio... but in the end faculty offices cannot be more important than my dance studio or other general purpose spaces.
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Academic buildings should be gun free because this is where controversial ideas are exchanged. Frankly if guns must be allowed somewhere, I think that it should be limited to open areas. If that is too restrictive then they should only be allowed in buildings where classes are not taught. Among other issues, this effects recruiting and retaining faculty.
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First, let me explain my answer to Q1. I think that if the great state of Texas continues this lunacy, that faculty should not be denied the right to arm themselves either for personal protection or as a defense for the protection of others. ; ; The most important thing we can do moving forward is to convince the legislature in Austin to rethink their motives and help them to determine that all educational institutions should be "gun-free zones".
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Faculty are targets. Plain and simple. We need to reduce that risk as much as possible. We also need to reduce the possible risk that students can do to themselves and to others.
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the committee should set regulations such that carrying weapons on campus is as restrictive as possible. The campus is not the place for concealed weapons.
• Faculty have been hired without any sort of training in how to deal with anyone possessing a gun in the work place. It is frightening to consider the kind of over-reaction that will surely take place when faced with an armed person in virtually any circumstance. I have worked on this campus for 11 years and have seen no guns. The fear factor and the general uncertainty of reaction or action by armed and unarmed people forced into this ridiculous situation is simply incomprehensible.
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Please, I am begging you, do NOT allow guns on campus!
• Let’s leave weapons on campus to trained professionals.
• Yes, I think it is very important that the university committee hear from the faculty on both sides. The meeting between a student and professor is private and it needs to be addressed especially if someone is bring a weapon of that caliber to a meeting with their professor.
• No guns on campus except police
• A certain %age of students become mentally imbalanced while at college. They may own legally purchased weapons. They should not have them on campus. Nor should studentvigilantes who will "protect" us from the imbalanced. There is as much chance they will do collateral damage as that they will take out the shooter.
• First, we know that administrators expect faculty to excel in teaching, research, and service.
In return we expect administrators, particularly Nellis and our Chancellor to lead, doing the right thing regardless of how difficult or popular. While in the short term this committee’s work is necessary, in the longer term we all should put pressure on our administrators to work with administrators at other Texas Universities to deal with the idiots in Austin and get this legislation reversed. It is truly an embarrassment. ; ; Second, what aspect of this whole absurd mess is the most important? Take your pick. From the loss of faculty recruiting efforts outside Texas (what junior faculty in their right mind would come to an open carry campus), to the effort spent in dealing with an issue that has nothing to do with the mission of a university. How much time has been spent on this already, time that could be used to deal with real issues such as improving TTU’s research status?
• How safe are faculty?

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• In my opinion, it makes little practical difference what areas are designated as "gun-free" zones. Most campus shootings are pre-planned and it is highly unlikely that any person planning on using a gun will really care or pay attention to petty zoning rules when contemplating shooting and killing human beings. The opposite of a planned shooting is an act of passion. But such acts of passion (at least that kind of passion) so rarely occur in faculty offices as to be a null set. ; ; I think it best if faculty retain discretion on whether to designate their own offices "gun-free" zones. That way, those faculty who want to carry (and
I know two who will) can carry in their offices and those faculty who take comfort from their office being a "gun-free" zone can take their comfort.
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The University should pay for faculty to be trained in use of handguns and for their CHL.
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How are faculty going to be protected that do no believe in carrying a gun when students bring guns to class? This issue has grown from having the right to carry a gun, which I believe is everyone’s right, to an issue of immense concern regarding safety in the workplace, especially considering the recent shootings on college campuses by students.
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The most important point is that we need to make women safe on campus. They need to be able to walk from the library to their off-campus housing safely without being subjected to violence. The state allows them to carry concealed if they satisfy the state requirements, and that should be good enough for us. Any "safe zone" designation would mean that they will have to leave their protective weapon behind in their housing or their car, and this will leave them vulnerable. Therefore, there should be no more burdens placed on concealedcarry permit holders other than what the state has imposed already. Thank you!
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Ignore the legislative mandate.
• I need to feel safe on campus to work here. I enjoy my work and think it is important to the campus and to education in general. I beleive that this law will cause gun crimes on campus to increase. I don’t want to be a statistic. And I don’t want to have to choose between being safe and working at Texas Tech or any public university in Texas. ; ; I also want to say thank you, to the committee. I believe this survey and the first survey have let me, at the very least, have my say on the topic. I have felt as though I have been heard. I know this is hard for a lot of us, as it is a polorizing topic. Thank you for clearly working hard to find the best case solution, given the law.
• Classroom are gun free, so as to encouraged discussion with having to worry about intimidation from students who do become hostile during heated debates. Assurances that all students who carry have the proper paperwork and are authorized.
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Faculty should have the freedom to choose whether guns are allowed in their classrooms, offices, meetings, etc. Not everyone is comfortable with guns on campus as the legislature apparently is. The legislature will never bear the brunt of their choices on us, but faculty have seen first hand how mental illness and student stress can create volatile situations in the classroom and on campus, even without the addition of guns to the mix. For the
University to not respect the needs of faculty who feel completely uncomfortable with this situation will have a negative impact on recruiting and retaining the best faculty in the future and sets a terrible precedent for further legislative mandates on our campus environment.
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I don’t believe guns should be allowed on campus at all, however, since it is required by the
State, I believe the only places guns should be allowed are parking lots. ALL buildings should be "gun free" zones. I am also shocked that the complete survey is asking for only three choices of "gun free" zones of the nine or so listed, and I never saw The School of

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Music on any of the listings. There are very many large crowds on a regular basis for concerts that should also fall into places like the Arena, Stadium, etc.
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If the rest of the campus is going to have people running around with guns, I want to be legally able to also carry in my office?
• I don’t know why we even have to fill this survey. Some truths are self-evident, one of them is that guns do not belong on the university campus.
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Many recent mass shootings, including the one in Oregon, involved a student taking retribution on a faculty member for a poor academic evaluation. Faculty are almost certainly the population on campus most likely to be threatened with gun violence, so it is essential that faculty safety is taken into consideration as this new law goes into effect.
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How ridiculous this discussion actually is. If the carry option comes into play, and an individual has an "approved" carry permit and is in an "approved zone, what keeps that person from simply walking from an approved zone to one not approved? The answer is nothing. The gun should not be on campus in the first place. If a student walks into my office and brandishes a gun, will my observation that a faculty office is not an approved carry location cause them to skulk away in shame? I think not.
• Where guns can be, and where they CAN NOT be carried, and most importantly how are these regulated?
• We are scared that this bill will create an unsafe work environment. Personally I have been
Applying for other jobs, as I would rather uproot my family than work on a campus where guns are allowed. The committee needs to understand that campus carry will become a retention & recruitment issue. How are we supposed to become a national research university if Tech is no longer a place people feel safe working?
• Is it possible to write it such that it is allowable for the faculty that work in that office to carry in their own office, but is a mandated "gun-free zone" for everyone else?
• The vast majority of faculty and staff members are extremely distressed and frightened by this legislation and are petitioning that it be rescinded.
• It is a violation of academic freedom to tell faculty that they cannot ban guns in classrooms.
• That safety of people and equipment is the top priority.
• In the recent Oregon shooting, a military-trained expert carrying a gun refrained from shooting given concern that he would be identified by police as the perpetrater. I fear that in an emergency, those lacking good sense and/or advanced training would be the ones most likely to complicate the situation, perhaps resulting in additional injury.
• How guns in places where candid, free conversations need to take place will undermine the process. That includes faculty offices, where students can become very emotional
(especially, but not exclusively, when discussing grades), but also classroom, counseling offices, offices where disciplinary hearings are held, dorms, etc.
• We don’t want guns in our classrooms or offices.
• We do not want guns on campus.
• I feel the university should hear the opinions of professors on how safe they feel in their offices given the climate today, and listen to them if they do not feel safe in the office or the classroom.

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• If an overwhelming number of faculty, staff and students would like our university to be gun free, the legislature should reconsider this legislation.
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Any person who possesses a CHL should be allowed to carry that weapon on any part of campus not specifically designated, with justifiable reasoning, a ‘gun-free’ zone. The two places I believe paramount to having a weapon would be classrooms and offices, since that is where most of the campus shootings have been occurring.
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This is absurd. Please relay that this whole thing is absurd.
• Recent tragic events have shown that gun-free zones are effectively free-kill zones for mentally ill persons - which would also be true of criminals and terrorists
• Because of their role, faculty are already at risk with disgruntled students. Faculty have been the target during the recent shootings.
• I understand that this question is coming from the perspective of anti-carry faculty not wanting someone bringing a firearm into their office, however, adopting this policy would effectively ban faculty who wish to carry from doing so. If campus carry is going to be a reality, why should faculty be prohibited from carrying in their own offices, effectively prohibiting faculty from carrying all together?
• More guns on campus creates a more dangerous environment for all members of the university community. How on earth does a potential free-for-all shootout in a classroom create a safer environment for students and faculty? If a concealed-carrying student is not paying attention when the shooting breaks out (e.g., they are typing notes or reading a textbook), who are they supposed to target when they raise their head and see ten other students waiving guns? And who are the police supposed to neutralize or target once they arrive on the scene and they see multiple individuals wielding and/or shooting guns? The legislative mandate is the truest definition of insanity. God help those of us that may be caught up in the mayhem that this could potentially create.
• As long as I as a faculty member am allowed to carry, I see no need for restrictions or "gunfree" zones.
• That I can’t believe 22 faculty said their offices should be exempt without also mentioning that classrooms should be exempt. How many faculty requested that? I believe, from speaking to number of them, that a substantial number also requested that classrooms should be exempt. I realize that this senate and the administration have decided that we are going to allow them in the classrooms anyway, but you should at east acknowledge that many faculty are opposed to having them in the classroom.
• I just feel it is unsafe to have concealed weapons on campus.
• Faculty and staff need to feel safe if you want to keep us here.
• Don’t limit the areas too much to make moot the intent of the law or we will be forced to revisit the matter.
• Guns do not belong on a college campus. At least please try to ensure our safety by banning them from classrooms.
• While I don’t want other people to carry in my office, if faculty have their license then where will they store it?
• I believe that the survey should be adequate in that it is a means for faculty to express their opinions to the committee and if something comes up such as the issue of faculty offices,

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then the committee should do as they did here and send out additional questions. If faculty do not complete the survey then they did not have an opinion or don’t care. I believe that faculty will be all over the map on opinions of what should be gun free zones and the committee will have to make decisions based on what is best for everyone given the legislative mandate.
• that the presence of fire arms should not, and can not, adversely alter our instructional, intellectual, or pedagogical approach to teaching and learnning.
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Please relay that the university admin should realize many good faculty will leave for safer campuses in other states and faculty from safer universities will not come here.
• If students can already bring guns to campus, then it seems unlikely that they will leave them at our office doors when they come to see us. Will having offices as gun-free zones really make a difference, or it is just to make everyone feel better? ; ; Leaving this item off the original survey and adding it here is a good thing, but it will really skew your results.
•
It is important to feel the freedom of providing the best education and support to the students while not fearing gun shooting during class or during an argument. If I knew students can carry gun to class or to my office, I would stop doing this job.
• Guns themselves don’t kill people. People kill people. Identify students of concern and the campus will be safe.
• I hope that the committee will utilize objective data as much as possible to guide their decision. Please look at campus zones that are normally "high-stress" or emotionally intense and consider them as first priority for a "gun free" zone; i.e. those that have the greatest potential of having an incident. Perhaps data from the TTU security/police department could be used for this purpose. I do NOT think that large classrooms should be a mandated gunfree zone unless all classrooms are mandated as gun-free. I personally am comfortable with the concealed carry law, but I do feel strongly that some areas must be "gun free." How this can truly be enforced I don’t know. I am grateful to the committee for taking on this difficult charge, and trust that they will come to a balanced, fair conclusion.
• The legislature should exercise some common sense and repeal this dangerous and asinine law.
• Safety
• Guns do not belong anywhere on campus but especially not in offices where staff and faculty have no way to protect themselves
• Lunatics don’t read signs.
• Please find a way to protect all of us from those very few students who are unstable and now allowed to be armed on campus.
• The idea that certain spaces should be "gun-free" and therefore safer is absurd and morally reprehensible. We need to keep all of us as safe as possible: students, staff, faculty, and visitors. Why should we declare that those of us who work in one building or one space ought to be protected or safer? Guns have no place in public, period!
• Close proximity; necessary conversations about sometimes negative or uncomfortable subject matter; unhappy students often blaming faculty for their own failures.

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• Faculty make decisions regarding students that can be provoking to a volatile student and do not have the ability to change that or refuse to interact with a student. Faculty offices should be gun-free.
•
Guns have no place in classrooms.
• Faculty are the sole responsible party for student evaluations and must continue to be able to freely evaluate student’s efforts. Additionally, the university setting is the appropriate environment to discuss controversial topics. As such, guns should not be allowed on campus.
• How do female professors maintain authority when a male student comes into her class or her office with a gun? How is the university prepared to address the hostile work environment female professors will likely face when male students overturn our power by simply bearing a weapon in our presence? The first time a male student arrives in my class with a weapon that he calls attention to or that I notice, I will dismiss class immediately, and
I will not hold it again until the university does something about this environment the Texas legislation has created for female faculty. I will expect that student to be removed from my roster.
• Practically, where can we disallow guns? If a student comes to class, carries a gun and then needs to see a professor, what could they do with their gun? Making some places out of bounds makes the system not work from a practical standpoint and will cause CHL carriers to limit their experience or break the law. The exception to this would be locations that are their own destination... football stadium, baseball stadium, BSL2 and BSL3 labs, the
Theater, etc.
• The committee needs to take into account how university professors, as individuals, wish to respond to the mandate once it goes into effect. I, for one, want to have as much control as possible to be able to designate my classrooms and office as gun free zones. If employees feel they don’t have much say over whether guns are allowed in their own teaching and personal spaces, Texas Tech, and the state of Texas for that matter, is going to begin losing highly qualified faculty to out of state institutions.
•
We should find every last loophole in this law to prevent having guns on campus in as many places as possible.
• The more the university makes of this the bigger deal it will be. None of these rules or restrictions matter one bit for the students/faculty members coming to campus with bad intentions. I recommend that TTU get together with other universities (public, at least) in
Texas to dictate a policy for all campuses. Then, I encourage TTU to educate all of us faculty members on what exactly the OP will be. Further, I really hope more detailed security training is available for faculty. I assume my classroom doors lockdown in an emergency
(they’re general classrooms). But...that’s a guess. It shouldn’t be.
• That allowing, let alone inviting, guns onto the campus goes against the ethos and purpose of a university. Concealed carry is a danger, not a safety measure.
•
making the campus safe. If carrying will do that then so be it.
• Classrooms need to be gun-free zones!
• How to ban as much guns as possible (even find loopholes to do so).
• Administrators should understand that faculty will be watching very carefully to see that the administration works to incorporate the perspectives of all members of the community into

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account in all public statements related to this legislation. I realize that administrators have to walk a fine line because they must seek money from the same legislators who passed this horrendous law, but a big part of administrators’ jobs are finding ways to maintain credibility with multiple communities. Abject capitulation to this law will significantly damage the administration’s credibility in the eyes of most faculty members.
• I’m library faculty. It is well known that libraries are often attractive locations for those that want to commit unlawful acts since they are open to the public. In our case 24hrs Sun-Th. In the past year we’ve had undercover police in our building due to robberies and sexual deviants exposing themselves to students in the stacks. I would prefer to have a gun in my office. I am in the process of earning my CHL due to the problems we have experienced over the past few years.
•
That we want to be as restrictive of carry on campus as the law allows.
• Everyone being treated for any type of mental issue should not be allow to bring a weapon on campus.
•
How the Texas academic community plans to repeal this law. We could use some leadership from the TTU administrators on this issue.
• If we cannot roll back this bad piece of legislation, than we must have training on safety in an active shooter situation. Individual, department by department training on our best avenues for escape and our best places for secure hiding or waiting during an active shooter incident.
• Fear. Concern for personal safety and well being.
• In my area, the faculty is highly uncomfortable with the idea of guns in classrooms and in our offices. How will we maintain academic standards when there is a possibility that assigning a low grade could result in a shooting rampage? Yes, it can happen any time, even in gun-free zones, when an individual becomes unbalanced. But legalizing the possession of guns in the educational environment, where hormones and immaturity often govern behavior, simply increases the chances for violence. And, those who wish to
"protect" themselves often exacerbate a situation.
•
To make as wide a gun-free zone as possible on caompus
• Faculty must be able to carry in their offices.
• Keeping faculty offices gun free makes no sense! If guns are allowed why shouldn’t faculty have the right to have a gun with them in their offices if they feel threatened? Wouldn’t a faculty office be one of the prime places for a crazy to come with an agenda?
• Comment for Question 1 about faculty offices: I do not want students coming into my office with a handgun. However, I will likely be carrying a handgun myself, so I will have to be exempted from any prohibition in my own office. ; ; I think the one of the most crucial issues now that we have this new reality is preparedness for an "active shooter" situation. How do we lock and barricade lecture halls, for instance? Many University Classrooms have programmable locks and are programmed to be unlocked throughout the whole work day.
By code, doors swing outward. It would be difficult to barricade an outward swinging door -- even more so when there is no movable furniture in a room. Substantial upgrading of doors on campus with deadbolts into the floor should and must occur.
• Guns do not belong on campus

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• I already stated this on the university administration-generated questionnaire. Legislators who brought this measure forward and passed it should be subjected to repeated psychiatric evaluations, and impeached, if not made personally liable for future gun crimes on campus.
Further, concealed carry guns should NOT be banned at Tech Regent Meetings, and also the Texas State House. If we have to have guns around us, so do administrators and legislatures. Tech can make a national name for itself by refusing to comply with this legislation.
•
That many of us don’t want guns on our campus at all. Despite the "legislative mandate", our state legislators need to hear this. The students and faculty at UT Austin are already making it quite clear that they don’t want guns on their campus; we should also be making this point clear to the state. Administrators on our campus who support concealed carry should think deeply about what they are hoping to achieve by following this mandate or, at the least, implicitly supporting it by keeping their mouths shut. This is not going to result in the heroic scenario that supporters insist will happen wherein some cowboy saves the day. This is going to result in countless accidents and altercations gone awry across the state before someone ever once "saves the day". Further, proponents of "liberty" should carefully consider the future of this campus where "free speech" is relegated to a small gazebo on campus yet carrying guns is allowed all across cam
•
I am non-plussed about the legislative mandate. I do not believe guns have a place on campus, period. However, the more places you make a gun-free zone, the more expense there will be for lockers and supervision. I am not sure how practical that really is. I really think our legislators must have been on drugs to pass this. I will not carry and I will not allow students to carry in my classroom or my office. You figure it out. .
• That there are a number of faculty that are considering taking jobs at other universities because of this mandate.
•
The presence of guns in faculty offices would make some faculty uncomfortable--which is something that, regardless of where they stand on the issue--all faculty should agree is something to be prevented. Guns in faculty offices could cause a professor to filter his or her critiques, hold back criticisms that could benefit the student, or otherwise impede the flow of information from teacher to student. Guns also increase the possibility of student retaliation against professors for receiving poor grades on assignments.
• After midterms and finals, we see upset, disgruntled and angry students, alone and in our offices. That context makes the possibility of an active shooter situation much, much higher than many other contexts and provides very strong support for making offices gun-free.
Particularly in the law school, where I teach, because grades and VERY high-stakes in terms of class rank, jobs, etc., AND there is usually only 1 or 2 tests that constitute a student’s entire grade, so the emotions run all the higher.
•
Keep faculty and staff SAFE ! If this requires a metal detector installed before all enter the
"gun free zone", let us install them ! If we need more police with arms, hire them! If we need to hire more TTU mental health experts to be involved, hire and train them! Safety is of #1 concern and we have so many international and domestic students who have mental problems and/or be connected with some extreme terrorists organizations, please make ALL of us safe !
•
make all offices and classrooms safe spaces. Train all staff and faculty on what so in case of an active shooter

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• Even though there is a legislative mandate regarding this issue, I oppose the mandate. The legislators should hear from the university that the faculty is opposed to the legislation and is unwilling to accept the legislation.
•
If guns are going to be allowed in the majority of areas on campus, we need extra monitoring and safeguards in place to regulate the mandate and ensure proper adherence and safety for all individuals.
•
Faculty are deeply concerned about the safety of students, staff, and colleagues, and that safety must be paramount here. Every member of this community has a right not to be shot and a right not to be threatened or endangered. As an institution dedicated to learning and education, TTU has an obligation to protect the rights of everyone here to exchange ideas freely and in safety. Those rights will be destroyed if guns can be brought to class or to offices. No one has a right to threaten others’ lives, health, or right to education.
• From my conversations, many faculty are extremely dismayed by the mandate. I think the
University should be aware that there are many faculty that feel strongly enough about this to consider employment elsewhere over it.
• I feel very uncomfortable with the current legislation. As a Professor, I am responsible of my class and students. I am totally against of guns, I do not have a license and I do not plan to obtain one. Being in a classroom in which my students may be carrying guns, will make very difficult my task of protecting them.
• If you are afraid that one student can threaten you with a gun, they don’t need a license for this. They can do it right now. If we start to create little exceptions of can concealed carry here not concealed carry there, can concealed carry here, cannot there, etc..... we will create confusion, sense of disorganization, false arrests, misunderstandings, etc. All these people that is afraid of this bill is purely because of ignorance regarding current law and new law. TTU should make a better job educating our own faculty and staff before running surveys without background information on the topic.
• No guns in classrooms and in faculty offices
• Conceal carry permits are only issued to people who have been through an extensive background check and people who have demonstrated that they know how to safely handle firearms. Additionally, under current law, one must be 21 years old or older. If an excessive number of gun-free zones are designated, these areas may become a prime target for those who intend to do harm. Additionally, advertising that an area is gun free is not a very good idea.
• The most important point that the university committee should hear from faculty on this subject is ; that why he or she think that a certain area should be or not should be a "no-gun" zone.
• If this survey shows that a significant majority of faculty do not want to work in an environment where licensed guns are allowed, then one of two things should occur. Either the University exercises civil disobedience to the law, possibly by uniting with other universities, or the University provides protection for all faculty. One police officer per floor of a building during all hours that the building is open should suffice. That turns the new laws into unfunded mandates. Then the citizens protest the state legislature and the Universities take the state to court for passing all these unfunded mandates.
•
What are the implications of "gun free zones" in terms of how they will be monitored and enforced?

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• Faculty should be allowed to have their own classrooms gun-free if they desire.
• I feel completely helpless. If a student pulls out a cell phone in class, I feel empowered to ask them to put it away. If they persist I feel empowered to confiscate the phone until the end of class or ask them to leave. Replace that situation with a gun and I feel helpless. Yes, the gun is "supposed" to be concealed - but so are phones. So what happens when they reveal their gun? Do I have the right to confiscate it? Do I call 911 and have the cops confiscate it? I would rather not get into a confrontation with an armed person who already feels so threatened by others that they seek security by carrying a lethal weapon into a classroom. I will likely contact the Behavioral Intervention Team every time I find out a student is carrying a weapon into my class because that falls under "student behaviors that cause concern and make me feel unsafe." I hope the BIT has enough staff to handle the increased activity.
• Beyond a massively crowded area or areas where sensitive persons may be present on a normal basis, concealed carry should be allowed based on the new legislation. I do not envy those that have to make these decisions for the good of the university.
• As much of the campus as possible must be gun-free as possible. Freedom of thought, inquiry & debate do not flourish in a threatening atmosphere!
•
Weapons have no purpose in a classroom or in our places of work. While you may be able to have a gun with you in your car, while you’re walking around, etc., weapons are not needed to fulfill the primary purpose of the institution - learning. Thus, gun free zones and training for appropriate responses to violence (of any kind) is needed.
•
Allowing guns on campus adds a volatile area of problems for everyone -- campus police, faculty, staff, students, etc. It is sad the university is even having to deal with this issue.
• People with a license to carry a gun will not necessarily suddenly go crazy and shoot people because they are angry. We should be most concerned with identifying and helping those in our community who have come to believe that randomly killing people is an acceptable way to seek attention or satisfy deep seated emotional needs. We should be spending our time on that issue rather than campus carry.
•
Given the new environment that is being imposed on the institution, the "Guns up" slogan associated with Texas Tech seems completely inappropriate in my opinion.
• This is a tough call; debating whether I will also conceal and carry on campus may depend in part on this decision; however, it does seem that whether offices are gun free or not, surveillance cameras will be needed to monitor office activity in case of a shooting.
Especially if we have a situation where two are in an office, shots are fired (due perhaps to a student angered about a grade), and one or more are injured or worse, establishing responsibility for the shooting will be critical.
• This puts the faculty and staff into a mandatory working situation that leaves some in fear for their own safety. It will run some faculty out, it will hurt our ability to recruit top talent, and it will affect how we interact with students. I feel putting us in this situation is unfair to those who have to work here.
• Ensuring the safety of faculty and students from those licensed for Concealed Carry and those that are not.
• There should be no attempt on the part of the university administration to undermined the law by designating any areas as gun free zones! Gun free zones enable people who

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disregard the law to show up armed and ready to kill people who are unable to fight back because, they happen to be in a gun free zone!
•
The committee should consider where campus shootings have occurred at other universities. Ban guns in those locations.
• I can’t speak for the faculty but I am not in favor of guns in classrooms.
• The important point is the possibility of suppression of free expression and the reluctance to critique or fail students due to fear of being a victim of gun violence.
• Perhaps faculty offices should be made gun-free zones, with an exception for faculty with their own concealed carry permit.
• The most important point to make to the university committee is that anyone who has the intention to come on campus with the intent to commit any type of crime is going to do so, whether or not the campus permits concealed carry. Allowing faculty, students & staff the ability to protect themselves in their offices, classrooms, public areas and any area is the only way to ensure the most rapid response to these criminals. Criminals, by definition, do not obey laws. Prohibiting concealed handguns on campus, and advertising that prohibition, is an invitation to criminals that they have a long lead time to commit crimes including mass shooting for their own glorification. One thing all of the mass shootings have in common is that they were perpetrated in "gun-free" zones. If criminals obeyed a law not to bring guns on campus, then everything would be great. But that is idealistic and unrealistic. Just as we citizens have the right to protect themselves and their famil
• The presence of guns in the classroom in no way augments the quality of the education I am able to provide to my students.
• My opinion that any of faculty who have concealed carry gun should be permit to be carry on the campus for the safety reason as they can stop if its necessary.
• Safety training and protective devices.
• If classrooms, faculty offices, the library, sports events, conference rooms, theatrical performances, and the like, are not exempted from this irresponsible legislative mandate, I and other faculty members will prefer to move to other states which have more responsible gun laws. .
• With or without these legal changes, students may bring a gun to a faculty office, and presumably that would be the initial consideration in designating such offices as gun-free zones. If that were imposed, I do not believe we should possibly penalize those faculty members who wish to conceal carry in their own office. ; This consideration probably should also be extended to include department offices.
• That we are opposed to campus carry.
• The inherent power dynamic resulting from the possibility for either a student or a faculty member to have a gun when meeting in a faculty member’s office is deeply detrimental to teaching and learning.
• The university should do all that it can to join with other universities in repealing the legislative mandate.
• Why is this a question at all? ; If somebody wants to kill they kill. Thugs and deranged folks do not care about rules. ; Consider this: Cain killed his brother Abel with a rock. He wasn’t supposed to, he did it anyway. ; He didn’t even need a gun.

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• Whether faculty will continue to feel comfortable working in this environment, and the consequences that allowing concealed carry on campus will have on faculty hiring, retention and compensation (or even being able to attract well-qualified faculty at all).
•
I guess I don’t understand clearly the definition of "gun free" zone . A faculty office would seem a logical place to allow guns.
• Guns are campus could become a source of intimidation for professors and instructors.
• We are against guns on campus. Allowing guns on campus is a major, significant change in our work environment. University personnel should have the ultimate say whether they want to work in an environment where guns are allowed. It is a major violation of our rights to have such a change made in our work environment.
• A simple survey like this one.
• The likelihood that someone will be shot on campus by an irate/emotionally unstable student who is concerned about a grade or piddling assignment and, because guns are being promoted on campus, decides to use it. ; ; Again, this is the stupidest idea I have ever heard of in my life. And people will be leaving campus because of it. Moronic.
• Faculty should be able to feel safe when discussing controversial subjects anywhere on campus but they not feel that way when they know there is the possibility of having to face someone who disagrees and has a gun.
• They need to hear that faculty are worried about the possibility of being threatened in their offices by students who are unhappy with the grades that they have earned, and that the integrity of the grading system could definitely be compromised due to these perceived (or possibly real, if legal) threats.
• If faculty offices are off limits to guns then faculty who reside in those offices could not effectively conceal carry. That would be a clear violation of the rights of faculty who want to carry. I strongly oppose faculty offices being off limits to guns. To selectively designate some faculty offices would be an administrative nightmare - faculty come and go and change offices frequently.
• There is no reason to limit CC in faculty offices. Persons with bad intents will not follow the rules anyway.
• Free speech will be constrained with the knowledge that a student in my office may be carrying a gun, while I definitely will not be.
• Short of doing the right thing and challenging the legislation I see little possibilities of enforcing any "gun-free" zones. Unless the university installs lockers outside of each "gunfree" zone or metal detectors at those entry points, it is unlikely that individuals are going to take the additional time to return their firearm to their car before entering those areas. ; ; So the important point is whether "gun-free" zones are being proposed to placate those opposed to the mandate or whether TTU is in fact going to make the significant investment to enforce such zones. If enforced how do we justify taking steps to provide a greater level of protection for select members of the TTU Community while ignoring the rest.
• faculty offices should be gun-free zones
• I think this question is heavily biased and assumes that faculty want their offices to be gun free zones. The fact that this question is an addendum after the fact underscores this even further, especially since it was disclosed that 22 faculty already choose their offices as
"other" gun free places. That means that faculty were already able to indicate that. I feel that

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this addendum INVALIDATES the entire original survey since it was issued AFTER the original one was evaluated and apparently the results were not to the liking of some members of the faculty senate. If you want a survey have a real and unbiased survey and accept the results and don’t try to "rig" it after the fact!!! ; ; For my own safety it is
ESSENTIAL for me that my office is NOT a gun free zone. In addition it would prevent students who legally carry from talking to professors and get an education and would therefore interfere with our core mission.
•
That some faculty will not teach in the presence of a weapon. It will be regarded as a threat and emergency services will be contacted.
•
maybe a clear question here... how about we will all die but hopefully not on the TTU campus.
•
Areas in which students, staff, or faculty are under "performance stress" should be "gun free". These areas include, but are not limited to, rooms, and the hallways leading to them, in which any of these are occurring: quizzes; tests; exams; proficiency demonstrations; hearings; job or judicial interviews; project, thesis, or dissertation defenses; probationary, tenure, or promotion reviews; misconduct or ‘code-of-conduct’ interviews. The areas might also include rooms, and the hallways leading to them, in which students, staff or faculty are making "high stakes" presentations or demonstrations.
•
Bringing guns onto campus is a distraction from the purpose of higher education.
Regardless of all the theories of how safe or unsafe this makes the campus, this issue is an interruption in the intellectual discourse that should be taking place. Free speech cannot truly occur if one or more of the discussion members is worried about getting shot.
•
Guarantee of personal safety.
• how detrimental this legislation is to learning and teaching at any legislation; how this legislation will provoke faculty into resigning or retiring; how this legislation will contribute to a ‘brain drain’ in the state because of faculty leaving; how some faculty may seek to get a gun and conceal carry permit and bring those weapons to the campus.
• No guns on campus
•
I’m worried this will change the faculty/student relationship. Sometimes students don’t understand the unique demands of higher education and the necessity to go outside the comfort zone. I frequently hear students say "I don’t see why he got a better grade than me."
That’s exactly right. They don’t see. If they saw the difference, probably they would do something better. I’ve had several confrontations with students. Most were resolved with additional explanation. Some were not. Frankly, adding a gun to the situation makes me less willing to meet with a disgruntled student and try to educate them.
•
Everyone’s Safety!!!!
• The legislature is not acting in the best interests of Texas citizens. ; 2) Texas will become increasingly less of an option for faculty and out-of-state recruiting. ; 3) we must not have weapons in the class room, staff or faculty offices.
•
Students need to be aware that there are still numerous gun-free zones. I am most concerned about potential gun accidents, in addition to active shooter scenarios.
• I’m not really sure how to answer this, but please do consider all of the data collected from the previous survey and all of our free responses provided there. I spent the time filling it out assuming that my responses would be read and considered.

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• There are no areas where restricting law abiding citizens fro lawfully carrying their concealed weapon is justified. All these are based on the assumption that a person will somehow lose their judgment/imminent harm assessment ability based on location?
Ludicrous.
• Regardless of signage or other reactions to SB 11, the University must create and execute a plan to ensure the University remains as safe as possible, regardless of what is required to do so.
• Those of us who follow the law and would not usually care to carry a weapon, should have the choice to be able to have one in order to defend ourselves from those who target the innocent.
•
The university should fight the implementation of this law in the courts.
• I find the above question unclear - if faculty offices are declared gun-free zones, would faculty members be prohibited from carrying in their own offices? Would there be a "primary occupant exemption" from a zone so defined?
• Many students who come to office hours do so because they have a concern about the course/grade, etc. The privacy of a faculty office makes it a high risk environment.
• If the students are going to have concealed carry, I think it is imperative that faculty with a concealed carry permit also be allowed to do so.
• The danger of having so many people with guns on college campuses. The probability that some conflict will end with the use of guns does increase.
• In order to maintain academic integrity, free exchange of ideas, and our right to a safe and productive work environment, it is absolutely essential to keep guns out of our offices and our classrooms. There is no reason for concealed weapons in a place of learning.
• The most important point is that there should be NO guns on campus. ; If you have to follow this rule, try to find the most limiting regulations allowed.
• Should concerned faculty be trained in firearms?
• Faculty are concerned about safety on the campus and having students carrying weapons
(openly or concealed) does not address the larger problem. We need stronger security measures and rules to keep everyone safe.
• I am not Faculty, but I do work in Faculty Offices and do not find it appropriate for guns to be allowed in this area.
• Administrative offices should also be gun-free zones.
•
That the new legislation has real negative consequences for teaching; and that as a result classrooms, labs, faculty offices, and other places where actual instruction takes place should be treated as special in this regard.
•
As an educator, my primary job is to give students a safe, secure, and respectful environment within which to discuss, challenge, contest, argue, debate, explore, question.
Guns do not help me to provide that space.
•
Faculty who are speaking out against this mandated legislation are: ; 1. concerned for their student’s safety ; 2. wondering how this will affect their ability to recruit students ; 3. unable to reconcile their Tier 1 aspirations with campus carry legislation

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• Not to defeat the whole purpose of proposal by providing places where a would-be active shooter could feel safe.
•
There is no rational or reasonable basis for a student or visitor to carry a weapon into a faculty member’s office.
• I would like the committee to know that I do not want (nor do I want my students, family and colleagues) to be put in the vulnerable position of being in a university setting surrounded by people with concealed handguns. Therefore, while we have been given a legislative mandate, I would like the university committee to make as many places on campus gun free as is possible. In addition, I would like the committee to make a statement questioning the wisdom and legitimacy of a mandate that is not backed by research and not wanted by those it was erroneously meant to protect.
• How opposed we are to this insane law.
• I don’t want to get shot by an irate student when I return a test or post grades.
• Gun control rules will not stop anyone from carrying a gun onto campus. I suggest investing into mental health education, prevention and action.
• Faculty should have the right to legally defend themselves in their office. Many faculty offices do not have or allow for multiple egress points. If an active shooter is upset about a grade or being removed from a department, they will be focusing their attack on the faculty or whichever level of administration they feel anger towards. The faculty are the first people that the students deal with concerning grades. If a shooter is standing in my door I have nowhere to run or hide. The ability for me to legally defend myself should be my right in my office. If the staff within the University President’s and Chancellor’s offices are allowed to carry why would faculty not be afforded the same right?
• If faculty can carry concealed weapons in class, what will they do when they return to their
"gun-free" offices? Concealed carry areas will need to include departmental and faculty offices, as well.
• No guns allowed in classrooms!
• Both faculty and staff deserve to be heard on their opposition to this legislation. How do you determine which "3 zones" are deemed worthy of being gun-free?
• Personal safety is a very big concern
• It should be made explicitly clear that the castle doctrine in TX in combination to campus carry will entitle the faculty to also carry when lecturing. And during "ideological" topics such as climate change, evolution, human rights etc. or any time grades have been reported, the faculty may be in "fear of their life" if a student reaches into their backpack to retrieve their
"gun" or pencil. but that distinction will not be important until after the student has been righteously shot and the faculty would be within their rights under the law. ; Faculty are smart enough to arm themselves if students and staff will be armed - Stress is rampant on campuses in many situations.
• Guns on campus are unacceptable. Students too fear-ridden to be without them should withdraw from school until they have overcome their phobias. The risk is too great for too many people. The putative "safety" of a few has proven--again and again--to have disastrous effects on the innocent. Take it outside.
• The best safeguard against mass shootings and other such incidents is screening and treatment of members of the campus community with mental illness.

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• Their extreme disappointment
• THAT I DON’T WANT THEM ANY WHERE INSIDE ON CAMPUS
• I think it’s probably contrary to the law to make a policy like this, since it effectively prohibits faculty from carrying on campus. I would prefer that the law didn’t exist, but I don’t see much point proposing to violate it. If we want to make a statement that the faculty and/or staff of the university oppose the law, we should do that explicitly.
• Protection of freedom of speech
• This law needs to be repealed. It completely subverts the essential environment for teaching and learning.
• If weapons are allowed on significant parts of campus, I think the university needs to be prepared for it to have a negative impact on recruiting faculty and on faculty retention.
• It is a very sensitive issue because faculty is supposed to have the authority in the classroom. For the faculty who don’t have guns in their posession and are not trained to carry a guy (and have a license for it), how that faculty member is supposed to keep the authority in such setting? ; Faculty will make students mad for many reasions, failing them from an exam for example because the student didn’t study well enough. So, how these scenarios are going to play out under such law? Upset students may attack the faculty members when they are mad at a situation in which they can’t graduate because they failed a class. Those who wrote such legislation, to what extent they have considered these issues? This law could somehow make the univeristy a war zone given the social exchanges that happen in that setting which are in most cases, unequal exchanges where instructors have more power than the students.
• I prefer that civilians do not have the authority to carry guns anywhere on campus. However, if this is not an option, then I would prefer if the professor is allowed to have a gun in his office, but declare it "gun-free" for visitors. ; ; I believe that it will be a huge mistake the make faculty offices completely "gun-free" unless the university will provide security guards outside each professor’s office ensuring that no one goes in without a weapon (like at sporting events). Otherwise, this law will not give professors the opportunity to defend themselves against someone who chooses to break the rule.
• It would be just as inappropriate for a student or faculty member to bring a gun to a faculty member’s office as it would be to have a gun in a classroom. Neither place is enhanced or made safer by introducing guns to an environment that often hosts emotionally taxing encounters. If steps aren’t taken to keep guns out of classrooms (big or small), labs, health centers, faculty offices, student union buildings, and other public and private locations on campus, then accidents and tragedies will result. It’s not a matter of if, but when. For the safety of Texas Tech’s students, faculty, and staff, please take steps to strictly limit where firearms may be carried on campus. The NRA doesn’t teach on Tech’s campus, or suffer the consequences of irate or unbalanced students or colleagues, but professors, staff, and administrative personnel do. Don’t let people who know little about college campuses make decisions for those of us who spend our lives on and around them. If professors acr
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That faculty could be targets of disgruntled or unstable students who are unhappy with grades, etc. I think it is essential that no guns are permitted in classrooms OR faculty offices.
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We need sufficient support and training about how to respond to a student that we are concerned about. When/if we see a student who we consider to be a potential threat what are the three things we need to do? I want three things that protect the student/ ourselves/

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and the campus as a whole. Who do we call, what do we say, what happens next? The
Student Affairs office has done an excellent job of answering these questions related to Title
IX violations, we need to be able to address student mental health needs just as easily.
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Faculty will be afraid to challenge students on controversial topics, for fear that someone unbalanced may respond with gun violence.
• There are seemingly threatening issues that happen with students all the time over issues of grades, etc. I personally feel unsafe knowing that students will now have guns.
• The right to protect yourself on campus whether in a classroom or in your office must not be abridged.
• This is not the right quesstion., it asks an individual opinion on what it is important to hear from a group. The question "what is important to you" should be directed to each member of the group. ; ; What is important to me is that legally carried handguns be permitted with only rare and compelling exceptions. Anything else would violate the state law, which reads : ; ;
The president or officer may not establish provisions ; that generally prohibit or have the effect of generally prohibiting ; license holders from carrying concealed handguns on the campus of ; the institution.
• Words don’t even...guns have no place on campus. Period. I WILL NOT tolerate a gun in my office or in my classroom. That’s what the committee should hear. The police may be carrying quite a few faculty to jail, and so be it.
• I think it is important to consider the rights of people who are uncomfortable being in a room with a gun. For example, I am not sure I feel ok with forcing attendance when that could require students to be in a situation which they feel unsafe.
• I would prefer no guns on campus.
• Guns, like smoking, are a health issue. If a gun is in the vicinity, room, area, there is always a chance that it will go off. My office, my classroom are my work areas in which I should be allowed not to have to put my life in danger on a daily basis, just as I am allowed a smokefree environment. The university should know that if guns are allowed in offices and classrooms, there are a significant number of faculty that will consider leaving -- for other institutions and other states. There are also a significant number of future hires that will consider not coming. If guns are allowed in other, more public places on campus, I can opt not to go there. I don’t think guns should be allowed in campus locations that students and faculty are required to attend. If they have to be somewhere, allow them in public places that people opposed to guns do not have to attend. Put them in places that I don’t have to enter, if I am not comfortable with their presence. ; ; Also, on the TTU Campus
• If guns are allowed in my building, but my office is gun-free, then I would not be able to carry in my office. I am against campus carry overall, but if others are carrying guns, I would feel the need to have one in my office to protect myself if needed.
• I (and most faculty members that I know) do not want guns on campus. Perhaps the Senate should consider actively engaging the state legislative process.
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All academic buildings should be gun-free.
• The mandate effectively shuts down the possibility for working in an academic institution that fosters academic freedom. Fearing retribution, faculty will no longer feel that they can safely express themselves in the classroom, during their office hours, or in their research.
Furthermore, I personally will be concerned about my physical safety on a daily basis. As an

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educator, this is not the kind of an environment that I ever foresaw having to work in. I am profoundly disturbed by this mandate and hope that Texas Tech organizes a strong opposition to it.
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Allowing guns in campus will increase the likelihood of "accidents" as well as intentional shootings. It is surprising that this is not considered as a threat to the campus community.
• I oppose the legislation. But if there are people carrying handguns on campus then I think I may want one myself. So, I can’t agree with faculty offices being an "gun free" zone. That leaves me feeling very vulnerable as a faculty member but I am "put between a rock and hard place" here. If I had the choice, it all would be "gun-free" but I do not.
• Student behavior fluctuates WILDLY when a sense of entitlement rules their thinking. I’d like to think that over 21 and possessing a CCH indicates a lower threshold but I’m unaware of any research with CCH license holders in their early 2’s which shows that conclusion.
• Ensuring the safety of faculty, staff and students.
• If the liberals on this campus and in the Administration game this process to try to outlaw guns, this University will suffer in the next legislative session.
• This is not an important point, but something to consider. ; If the guns are allowed into the building, where is the person going to place the gun in order to go into the faculty office? ;
Many of the offices are intermixed with the classrooms. ; To restrict guns from offices would basically mean restricting guns from classrooms. ; This would be true when you look at various buildings that are listed in the original survey. ; It is difficult to separate different buildings to be gun free and others not when students would be moving from one to the other. ; Athletic events, such as football and basketball, should be gun free zones, as well as any of the events that occur in those facilities. ; Thank you for listening.
• We don’t want guns on campus, and as a university community we need to work to reverse this gun carry legislation.
• Not to carry guns on campus.
• Making faculty offices "gun-free zones" effectively prohibits all faculty from carrying guns. A graduate student office is not a "faculty office." It makes no sense to allow graduate students to be armed in their offices and to remove that right from faculty. Why is it only faculty offices that are the point of this question? Should staff offices have been included along with graduate student offices in this question? And then there are a few offices that are provided for undergraduate students; what about those offices being gun free?
• If someone began shooting on campus, what incentive do I have to lock myself in with a nearby faculty member in their office knowing it is a publicly acknowledged gun free zone?
• How to adhere to the spirit and intent of the new law.
• Thank you for doing the best you can working to implement legislative mandates that create problems that don’t exist and does little to solve problems that may exist.
• As a faculty member, if I can’t carry in my office and in the classroom, the point of having a weapon available on campus is not applicable. The fact that some faculty would want office to be gun free demonstrates their ignorance of the issue and fails to allow faculty to protect themselves.

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• Classrooms strike me as one of the most important areas where "gun free" zones exist. This is the place where academic freedom and freedom of expression and debate occurs - the foundation of a university’s mission
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I don’t want guns on campus except for police. Period.
• Our own safety issues, I want to be able to protect myself if need be.
• This question is confusing-----"point" in time? "point" of argument? That if I am responsible for the classroom and I set standards of conduct, that I should also be in control of what comes into my classroom. I do not care to "teach at gunpoint." And, most importantly, I will
NOT meet in my office with an armed student---in fact, I will refer any grade complaints up to the Dean along with a statement or documentation on the reason for the grade. I’ve seen too many furious students over the years to trust that the *encouragement* of carrying weapons that this law provides is going to be a good addition to the mix.
• The safety of faculty and students in academic instructional areas should be a primary concern so as to not jeopardize free and frank exchange of ideas opinions and discussions that are important in an academic setting. Faculty offices, classrooms ( large and small) and interior spaces for free social, community and intellectual interaction such as the student union should be safe and gun free.
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"Gun-Free" Zones should be include areas of campus most susceptible to inciting acts of violence.
• I am glad I’m retiring soon. Guns and the free exchange of ideas do not mix.
• How faculty members are going to be protected from students who carry handguns into class. Will faculty members be allowed to carry handguns into class as well?
• Need to repeal this law -- the "people" created it so "people" are able to repeal it with proper organization and appropriate "lobbying". The Universities need to band together to provide unified focus and shared resources to get this law repealed. It can be done. The data are unambiguous-- concealed weapons create catastrophes they do NOT moderate or eliminate them.
• Many of our students are too young to make life choices on their own. Many are not yet mature enough to live on their own, pay for their own rent or bills or insurance. Many are not yet of legal age to drink. Yet, these are the same students whom we imagine may be carrying guns on campus. I could go on and on why students should not, under any circumstance, carry a concealed weapon on campus. Universities are places of learning, not places where a student, faculty, or staff member should be forced to question whether they are safe from their own students. Allowing concealed weapons on any campus is an abominable idea and I can’t even believe we are debating this. Shame on the NRA for the grip they have on Congress and the subsequently the American public, and shame on us as
American citizens for debating this after all the school massacres we’ve had.
• Personal safety. Having received many threats on my safety and my life, and having had many experiences where I have been walking down the hall to my office and seen an unknown person hovering around looking for me, with a not-quite-sane gleam in their eye, I do not feel that the university has offered me sufficient reassurance of safety while I am on campus.
• I urge the university to legally fight this legislative mandate and, if that legal approach doesn’t succeed, to allow individual faculty members to make their own decisions about their personal safety and the safety of their students.

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• They should have been asked about their opinion before this whole thing started and the gun lobby got it’s way.
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They should know that many faculty adamantly oppose the legislation. TTU and other state universities should continue to apply pressure to the legislature to overturn or significantly weaken the law. While I hope that this legislation does not have negative consequences, I fear that it is just a matter of time until there are some. ; ; Also, if faculty offices are not designated as gun-free, then I will seriously consider only holding my office hours in a space that it designated as such. I value helping students, whether they are struggling or are very enthusiastic and want to learn more than we cover in class, but I will not risk my safety to do so. If many others feel the same way, this could create a logjam in gun-free zones, making it more difficult for faculty to assist students in a satisfactory manner.
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There has not been much discussion about the satellite facilities for TTU like the farms, greenhouses, etc. I think those areas should be part of the discussion also. I think my greatest concern is for largely populated areas and sporting events.
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The faculty office is a place of where students and faculty have the opportunity to work, meet and engage in topics of learning, support and advancement. The focus on mutual respect and growth that comes with the rigor of learning will be minimized for both faculty and students if faculty offices are not "gun-free" zones. The discourse of intellectual differences will be mitigated with a person carrying a gun in the office.
• This doesn’t relate to this question but does relate to the question above. If possible under the law, I suggest that concealed carry be permitted for faculty in their own offices but not for visitors to the office.
• Firearms on campus is such a poor notion. The idea that permit holders should not be restricted in a sense is good. They should be able to have them in their residence hall and in their vehicle. Bringing them to other areas of campus makes so little sense that it becomes impossible to pick and choose where they should and should not be allowed.
• You will have a difficult time keeping/attracting faculty with this law in place. I would take this into consideration before accepting a faculty position within the state of Texas. Particularly if my child was in daycare on campus. ; ; In addition, what about faculty who have offices in the residence halls? Can they be gun free? (It is my understanding residence halls are not allowed to be gun free in the current draft of the law.)
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If Texas Law mandates that students on our campus under the law are allowed to conceal carry then faculty and staff should also retain the right to conceal carry as well. I believe the most important point that the faculty would need to clarify to the committee is how does making their office Gun Free Zones ensure their safety. Many situations where gun violence across the nation occurred were actually in GUN FREE ZONES. Gun Free Zones are not a method of protection, hence the ability for those who wish to conceal carry could have the opportunity to protect self and others in the case of those individuals who follow no moral code or law regarding human lives.
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That academic institutions are not a place where carry rights should exist. The risk to others outweighs the right to carry.
• Only one-third of one percent of all CHL holders in Texas have committed a crime with a gun. Those licensed to carry handguns must be 21 years-of-age, pass a background check and pass a CHL course. These are responsible citizens who want to exercise their second amendment rights to protect themselves and others.

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• The likelihood of a confrontation with a student becoming a crisis, possibly ending in the faculty member being shot, is probably more apt to happen in a faculty members office than other places on campus.
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I do think it is important that faculty and staff be given the right to voice their opinions to the committee in a public type hearing. o Allowing guns on campus may make an individual feel safe, but it may not make a class feel safe. I’m supposed to ask students to think critically and call my classroom a "safe space" to learn. This may mean I allow (perhaps even encourage) students to dissent from the status quo. How can I ask students to do that when I am uncomfortable doing so because I know that anyone in the room could have a gun and choose to use it? There has been concern that Academic Freedom is dwindling because students and parents are sure faculty are trying to brainwash them. Is this new legislation going to help matters? ; ; 2. What are my rights as faculty? If I see or suspect a gun in my classroom that is supposed to be concealed, can I ask to see a permit? Can we have a registration process where concealed permit holders register with the university and I am informed about how many guns are in my class? Can I, as part of my academic freedom, create a syllabus clause that prohibits guns in
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What possible reason, in under all but very few emergency situations, could there be to need a gun to be present in a faculty office?
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I DON’T CARE WHAT ANY LAW SAYS...NO ONE...NO ONE...WILL BE ALLOWED IN MY
OFFICE WITH A GUN!! I WILL SUE THE UNIVERSITY AND THE STATE BEFORE THAT
HAPPENS!!!
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Limit areas were guns can be carried to the minimum allowed by law
• The most important point that the university committee should hear is that more guns on campus won’t make anyone safer. Studies have shown that reaction times are far too slow, from even the most well-trained and well-armed gun carriers. They won’t help. That’s a frustrating and perhaps frightening reality, but it’s a proven fact.
• Information regarding responsible gun ownership, and training in the ethics and legal issues involved should be available to students. The committee should realize the legislation does not give permission to just any and all students, and that those without CHL may be liable to prosecution. When all is said and done I believe we shall find that, just like when CHLs were instituted some years ago, the general public fear and concern shall be unfounded.
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It’s impossible to have academic freedom with guns in classrooms.
• Students can carry guns...in their cars on campus. Period. No student should have a gun in class, common areas, faculty offices, sporting events, etc.
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The most important point is that faculty overwhelmingly oppose this concealed carry legislation because they have direct experience with the mental health issues and general life pressures that affect so many of the people in the age group and demographic group of those who have most commonly been perpetrators of recent and past gun violence, including recent gun violence on campuses. I am not anti-gun, nor do I think citizens in general should be prevented from having weapons of self-defense, but I am horrified by the thought of students walking around campus with guns, and I believe most of my colleagues agree.

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• That my right to protect myself is greater than the politics. I also need the proof that guns on campus automatically means more gun violence: I don’t see the proof based on studies about other campuses that allow campus carry.
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Mentally Ill students.... even students who may only be suspected of mental illness should be BARRED from having a gun on campus. Mental Illness contemplates an absence of free will. Without free will, one cannot exercise one’s rights appropriately under the Constitution. I think Locke and the framers of the Constitution would agree with me here. I am not an expert on mental illness, but it would not surprise me if there are more young people who go without proper diagnosis as compared to older people. Furthermore, anyone with a history of substance abuse should not be allowed to have a gun on campus, because intoxication dampens peoples’ judgment. Thank you for getting our input.
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This would virtually exclude faculty from legal carry -- and where else should the faculty store their guns if they visit a gun free zone?
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You can make the rules for Texas Tech.
• If you make faculty offices a gun free zone you take away my right to carry a gun should I choose to.
• Professor-student interaction will suffer. I can see profs doing exam reviews only by Skype or in another gun-free zone. I would also anticipate profs being in their offices as much, or keeping their doors closed. It will harm education and culture.
• Concern for student safety, mental health screening, and immediate availability of assistance for emergent emotional, psychological, and mental health issues.
• If a faculty office is gun free, how could a faculty member with a permit carry? Leave his/her gun in their car in the parking lot. We can already do that. A faculty member would be at a huge personal risk.
• There is no place for any guns on a college campus. The legislation needs to be overturned.
What about the constitutional rights of the victims of gun violence? Their rights far outweigh the rights of gun owners clinging to the 2nd amendment. I understand that you have a legislative mandate, but universities need to stand up together and protest against this new law rather than try to make it work. There will only be tragedy and lives lost until it is seen that this law is a really bad idea that does not uphold the values and mission of an educational institution. Safety needs to be the first priority, and no one is safer with guns on a campus.
• Faculty and students are being subjected to a human experiment for which no IRB would ever be given. We have a right to teach and learn in a safe environment. The risk that people will be killed or injured in gun accidents, however, multiplies with every gun carried in classrooms and offices. To minimize this risk, we must specify that all concealed weapons be holstered and the trigger covered. ; ; In addition, faculty and students must be given the option to teach/take courses online. Any onsite course for which there is no online alternative is a course that must be designated gun-free.
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Our job requires that we give critiques to students. This puts us in danger if we are dealing with a student who is unstable.
• No guns anywhere on campus!!

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• Faculty should have the right and ability to protect themselves and their students. If you disarm the responsible individuals as they are now, you are only creating more potential victims.
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that this whole discussion is lunacy
• disruption to an environment that is conducive to research and teaching
• it is very important to consider the fact that this not only can impose potential harm to academic freedom but also will not necessarily reduce the risk associated with active shooter cases.
• Given that not all faculty and staff desire to possess a CHL, and many do not plan to seek one, it is not advantageous to anyone that guns be allowed in offices, EVEN IF A PERSON
HAS A CHL (including the faculty or staff member).
• How to educate the university community about this mandate, and how to prepare for any effects from this mandate.
• gun free zones and relevant justifications
• Faculty should have the means to avoid meeting with disgruntled armed students. An all-A’s grading practice is one means, if not the best. Prohibiting arms in faculty offices would be preferable.
• Faculty should have the means to avoid meeting with disgruntled armed students. An all-A’s grading practice is one means, if not the best. Prohibiting arms in faculty offices would be preferable.
• No opinion.
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who is protecting MY safety? I want my office to be gun free and my classroom. Do you seriously expect me to deal with students and their grades otherwise?
• The question is vague. Are we talking about faculty or students? With proper training, permitted carriers should not have to "check your gun at the door."
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Faculty need to feel safe in their own offices. Knowing that anyone could walk in and threaten me at gunpoint creates a hostile work environment.
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NO ONE WANTS GUNS ON CAMPUS
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That many faculty members believe the legislative mandate to be ridiculous and would appreciate any help the university can give to limit the number of places on campus that anyone has the right to carry a concealed weapon.
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That open carry is a violation of my civil rights for those of us who are really worried. What is see in our future is more gun violence not less. this is a disaster waiting to happen. And aren’t we just about the worst at Texas Tech with our "GUNS UP" attitude! this is really making me sick! I feel and fear for us all.
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Technically, from my reading of the legislation, we are allowed to mandate when and where guns are allowed for concealed carry on campus. I see nothing that says that we have to allow the guns in ANY buildings. Instead, campus is technically the land. So, I see no reason for why we couldn’t mandate that every building on campus with offices, classrooms, or meeting rooms are gun free zones. My greatest fear is what this will mean for the intimidation tactics of angry students. Restricting where and when would alleviate that fear greatly for me and other faculty members.

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• TTU should protest the legislative mandate. The passage of this campus carry bill is stupid, dangerous and surreal. It "re- brands" this growing, outstanding institution (along with other
Texas universities) as simple minded, backward, and paranoid.
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Establishing "gun-free" zones in the campus.
• There should be no guns on campus whatsoever, except at the hands of trained officers of the law. Weapons by their nature are meant to threaten and scare. Guns whether open or concealed prohibit the free exchange of ideas and are counter to an open and safe environment that an institution of higher learning is expected to achieve. The entire university should be a "gun-free" zone.
• I would have voted for faculty offices to be gun free zones. However, if students can carry into the building and have an intent to harm a faculty member they will not care about offices being a gun free zone. I therefore would like to be able to protect myself. If my office is a gun free zone then what happens when faculty want to carry a gun. Do we leave it at the door?
• Like many of my colleagues have stated, the academic freedoms our staff, students, and faculty are violated because of the increase of intimidation and violence caused by concealed carry.
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That if we want safety, then we should get the police involved and have officers in the premises, and not let faculty or students or staff take the role of "protectors" of society.
Carrying an arm does not make a place a safer place. ; There have been 45 school shootings in 215 so far. Fourteen of those have been in a college.
• You are increasing the risk that your students, staff and faculty will be in danger for no reason at all - what benefit is gained by allowing students (a good portions of whom are deemed unstable adults due to depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, eating disorders and substance abuse) to bring their gun to school while they are supposed to be opening their mind and learning.
• The faculty needs to have a sufficient sense of security in their space (faculty offices).
• If this, faculty offices were to be "gun-free", were implemented, that would mean that no faculty member on campus could have a gun in their office. If so, who will be there to check that no criminal or insane person brings in their gun or guns? This suggestion would put faculty at more risk rather than less. ; The criminals and insane will never abide by any laws.
• Faculty should not have to see students in their office who are armed. This is ridiculous that we should even be considering this possibility. If this exception is not made, I simply plan to not hold office hours. Thank you for this follow up as this is a very important issue.
• the safety of minors, school age children, and toddlers on campus
• The legislation should be challenged in a court of law.
• Professors and class members should not be available as targets for someone’s anger at their ideas .They also should not be subject to someone’s domestic violence against someone in a class.
• There is not empirical research to support the argument that individuals target "Gun Free
Zones." Majority of the faculty, at TTU, are not prepared for a gun related incident in the classroom or during office hours. The concealed carry gun legislation is identical to the
Oregon gun laws and 9 students and 1 professor was recently buried. Possessing a weapon in a faculty office will not further protect an individual from gun related violence. More guns

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does not equal less violence. In the event an incident were to occur on campus, the minute police officers arrive on the scene, the only goal is to disarm every civilian, good or bad. The more "gun free zones" TTU can have, the better. The current legislation is unavoidable, but with the help from the administration the campus can still remain safe. Safety has two sides: with a gun and without a gun. The committee must respect the views of both sides. How will you protect the individuals who feel unsafe when
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Concealed Carry directly harms free speech in the classroom and in co-curricular environments. Thus, it is an infringement of the First Amendment.
• Most necessary is to repeal the campus open carry law. Next is the ability to accurately screen for amounts of ammunition and ammunition clips that someone could carry on any campus site.
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TTU has a faculty body of international/non-Texas origin (even among those who hold US citizenship). The "non-Texan" cultural background of these faculty does not support the
Texas gun culture. Many of these people do not feel comfortable learning to handle guns or wearing guns. They are thus a particularly vulnerable population that needs to be protected based on their culturally diverse background that should be tolerated and accepted.
• Please make all campus a gun free zone. You can’t guarantee that everyone will be responsible.
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Some faculty members are duly worried about a shooting incident that will result in severe injuries/death. They worry for the well-being of students, staff, campus visitors, faculty and administrators.
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How is the university going to improve safety and protection for all persons on campus? Will persons entering gun free zones be screened to make sure there are no weapons carried in? Will faculty be able to lock doors and control lighting to lessen the chance of an armed intruder coming into the classroom? Can "panic buttons" be installed in classrooms to alert authorities of an emergency situation (medical or threat)? Will there be more emergency training sessions for faculty and staff?
• Revisit an absurd decision.
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That guns should not be allowed in classrooms or any university building. This legislation is harmful for educational debate, freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
• Students ability to carry concealed weapons into my office will fundamentally change the way I interact with students. I have always had an open door policy, preferring to be available to students when they needed me, including when they were upset or angry. That will no longer be true. I don’t think that fact will be good for the students or the image of the university (as I suspect many other faculty members will be forced to make the same decision).
• disgruntled students with a GUN!
• We want gun-free zones in classrooms and faculty offices.
• I just can’t believe I live in a state where guns are going to be allowed on campus. I’m actively searching for jobs in other states and hope I will be able to leave Texas Tech very soon.
• Measures need to be taken to protect the academic environment. If people do not feel free and open to discuss ideas - without fear - the experience and value of their education could be cheapened.

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• Due to disgruntled students who have the potential to act irrationally, it is "essential" that faculty offices are desginated as "gun-free." I continue to make the point, that this entire situation is an "accident waiting to happen" and it WILL happen if the entire university is not in agreeement over the situation.
• The most important thing in my opinion is that because of a political agenda by gun fanatics, classrooms will not be safe. I’ve had a student who was pro Open Carry in my class before, and of all the students I have dealt with, he was one I would really worry about if he had a gun. He was not a ‘bad’ kid, but he was emotionally troubled. Pro gun people in my opinion are dying to prove their most paranoid fears will justify their use of a gun in public places.
• If guns are not allowed in faculty offices then faculty will not be able to bring them on campus at all. ; Is that what is intended?
• Anything to make faculty and staff feel safe. There should be plenty of training opportunities on how to handle situations that might make faculty and staff feel uncomfortable.
• Without violating the letter of the law, TTU should declare as many of its facilities and areas as possible OFF LIMITS to firearms. We on the faculty have reason to fear for our safety.
• The university committee must understand how frequently faculty experience office visits with students where tensions escalate, particularly near the end of each semester. . It is bad enough that many of our building do not have their own security, but this situation becomes extremely volatile when firearms are involved. If it is possible to implement this exclusion without violating the mandate, I urge the committee to pursue it.
• Faculty should have the right to ban guns from their offices & classrooms, or to state the conditions under which they can be carried.
• Many of our labs are unsafe to have firearms in. I hope the environmental health and safety steps up and explains why firearms in labratories are a fatal mistake. The firring of a weapon in a lab could lead to lawsuits and extreme danger beyond the initial shooter scenario. Are we not legally negligent when we allow guns in places where they simply should not be? I work in a labratory where there are compressed gases, if a compressed gas cylinder was ignited the carnage could lead well beyond the initial impact of a shooter scenario. That would be a very interesting legal scenario to put forth to our legislatures.
• A person intent on shooting a faculty member in his/her office will not abide by the school mandate if it is to restrict weapons. That would mean faculty too. If someone comes to my office intent on shooting at me, I certainly want the freedom to protect myself and shoot back.
• As evidenced by seemingly countless shootings on college campuses, "gun free zones" do nothing to deter evil-doers with guns. Perhaps by implementing a wide adoption of campus carry, the mere presence of law-abiding, licensed CHL holders would serve as a more effective deterrent than what currently is in place.
• We understand this is mandated by law but it does not mean the university should be hesitant or reluctant to stand up for what the professors want. Primarily I believe the faculty body wants classrooms, where open and relaxed discussion take place in an effort to teach these student, to be free of an element that will only bring fear and possible intimidation by other students. We understand that students who bring their guns are most likely doing it for their own peace of mind but what of the other 35, students and teachers? Does their peace of mind not matter? Should we sacrifice the place where students learn to think outside themselves for the piece of mind of a few hundreds students who statistically are more likely

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to hurt themselves or others accidentally compared to protecting themselves? I don’t think so and I will be extremely disappointed in TTU if the administration doesn’t take a stand for their professors. Other professors from out-of-state will pass up jobs at TTU a
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That declaring university spaces gun free zones places a target on those that would be in those places, whether the entire university or specific places within the university. I do not believe that campus carry compromises any function of the university or academic freedom.
We must allow those that abide by the law an opportunity to defend themselves in the face of those that would disregard any and all laws to commit violence.
• Classroom and Offices must remain gun-free zones. The campus handbook needs to be updated regarding these new rules and areas allowed for carry. Individuals who use their weapons contrary to the conceal and carry permits would be deemed in violation of campus policy, and we need to have policies that govern how they are to be dealt with.
• THE WHOLE CAMPUS NEEDS TO REMAIN GUN-FREE ZONE. ; This legislation is
IRRESPONSIBLE and cannot be justified in any sense. ; Its outcome will only result in creating an unsafe working environment based on a very dangerous general paranoia.
• I’m sorry. I had an email snafu and was not able to to take the survey before the deadline.
Truthfully, I am not sure how I feel about campus carry. I honestly don’t think students/faculty carrying guns would make me feel safer and actually might make me feel less safe. Given how frustrated students can become with us, I would want faculty offices to be a gun-free zone. Sorry, I wish I would have taken the actual survey. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of the entire Campus Carry legislation.
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As we consider counseling areas to be obvious places where guns should not be allowed, we should consider offices to also be "counseling centers". Most students do not come to our offices just to visit-they come because they are mad, concerned about their grade, upset with their seating arrangement, or for some other, difficult idea. Having a gun on the other side of the desk creates a different kind of counseling session. I am greatly concerned about students entering my office armed. If I can’t prohibit a CHL holder from coming to my office armed, then all of my office hours will be held at another location. Perhaps the gun-free labs can rent some space for offices to faculty not fortunate enough to have their office declared gun-free. And perhaps the university could purchase Kevlar vests like worn by the president for those faculty who fear for their lives from some disgruntled student.
• The most important point the university committee should hear is that guns must be banned from faculty AND staff offices, as well as classrooms. Guns in offices and classrooms is, in my opinion, a hostile work environment. Does the president want guns in his office and meetings? Does the chancellor allow guns in his office and meetings? Do Texas senators and representatives, and Texas state legislators invite guns into their offices and meeting spaces? No. Guns must be banned from faculty AND staff offices, as well as classrooms.
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If faculty will be provided opportunities for safety and awareness training.
• I think the committee should pay close attention to faculty concerns about the presence of guns on campus.