Iowa City Press Citizen, IA
09-19-07
Regents delay gun decision
Board wants comprehensive campus security policy
By Brian Morelli
Iowa City Press-Citizen
COUNCIL BLUFFS -- The vote on whether to arm campus police was delayed
Tuesday by the Iowa state Board of Regents, who also delayed a vote on
another contentious issue.
Regents delayed a decision on whether to reverse a 43-year-old campus
disarmament policy and only broached part of the corporate naming rights
discussion.
The regents put off the much anticipated -- and expected -- decision on arming
university police officers, which was recommended by the presidents of the
University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa as
well as Gov. Chet Culver.
The regents unanimously voted to ask the board office staff to create a
comprehensive campus security policy, and in a separate and confusing 7-1 vote
that perplexed some regents, they voted to ensure the draft will include a specific
section with protocols for arming police. They are now expected to vote on that
policy, and arming police, at the October board meeting.
"I am struggling with it, too," Regent President Pro-Tem David Miles told
reporters, referring to what the 7-1 vote meant.
Miles said he thought his vote indicated he supported arming police. However,
that contrasted Regent President Michael Gartner's view.
"It was a vote that meant we want the policy to include guns, and then we will
decide on the (whole) policy," Gartner told reporters. "You shouldn't take this to
be a vote on guns."
Gartner said spelling out the policy before voting on it is the right move, so
regents know exactly what they are voting on, including the specifics of an armed
police force. Also, he called for statistical data on security threats, which were
absent from reports submitted by the three campuses.
Regent Rose Vasquez cast the lone opposing vote and is on record opposing the
arming of campus police. Miles is the only regent on record supporting the
arming of officers, although based on comments, the majority of the board also
appears to favor arming police.
UI Public Safety Director Chuck Green, who supports the arming of campus
police, said he viewed Tuesday's vote as a progressive step.
"What they are saying is they want to look at the policies and procedures in
place, and I am OK with that," he said.
Also Tuesday, the regents had a lengthy but limited discussion on another
controversial issue -- how to handle naming units within the regent system. They
were not expected to make any decisions on Tuesday.
The regents directed the board office to draw up a comprehensive policy that will
provide more clear guidelines on public universities in Iowa accepting money in
exchange for naming its units. They were particularly interested in mandating
better communication in consummating such a deal.
A philosophical discussion on whether a university unit should bear a corporate
name, which fueled controversy for much of the summer, never occurred.
The primary topic of conversation on Tuesday was whether the regents would be
entitled to future tax exempt bonds if a private corporation paid for naming rights
in a quid pro quo arrangement.
John Bunz, of the Ahlers and Clooney law firm in Des Moines, said that in many
cases, the regents would lose out on the tax exemption even if the money came
from the corporation's philanthropic foundation.
Miles proposed the regents remove any possibility of naming a unit after a
product.
"Elimination of anything on our campus that be named for a product," was one of
three proposals he asked the regents and the board office to consider and
research, as well as the ability to remove current names and additional scrutiny
for corporate namings.
This issue built steam as Wellmark BlueCross and BlueShield and the University
of Iowa College of Public Health had neared a $15 million deal to rename the
college after Wellmark. Public Health faculty had rejected the proposal, saying
they did not want to be named for an insurance company. Wellmark withdrew the
offer, which was coming from the private nonprofit entity known as the Wellmark
Foundation. The faculty members are expected to re-address the issue after the
regents decide an overarching policy.
UI president Sally Mason expressed a desire for better communication and
flexibility in the policy rather than a narrowly defined one.