Column:
Campus should be safe, non-discriminatory
Concealed carry laws and discriminatory policies detract from MU.
Published March 12, 2009
As you might read in the Forum section of today's Maneater, Marcus Bowen's column from Tuesday has sparked a great debate about MU's campus environment. Although I strongly disagree with Bowen, I will leave the arguments about human rights and discrimination to my friends who have written letters, and address the general philosophy driving his argument.
I am making an assumption, but it seems that Bowen's basic idea of the function of higher education is to churn out "successful, productive, hard-working member(s) of society." He thinks MU should be run like a business, always concerned with the bottom line and constantly "learning how to make money."
On the contrary, while MU does produce great, hard-working individuals, it is not because the school cut building costs and scrimped on extracurricular and education enhancing programs -- it is because of those programs.
Not accommodating transgender people with a unisex restroom is like not building restrooms to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. After ADA passed in 1990, MU had to update some of its buildings to make sure everyone could take full advantage of the opportunities on campus. Unfortunately we were behind the curve then, but now MU has the opportunity to lead by developing a policy that creates a campus environment that is accepting towards all students before we are federally mandated to do so.
Another area where MU can maintain a safe learning environment is by opposing the concealed carry on-campus bill that has been introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives. Rep. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, introduced a bill to lift the ban on concealed weapons on campus. Advocates for the bill say it is designed to allow teachers and other personnel to carry a handgun because, currently, one cannot get a concealed carry permit unless they are 23 years old, and most college students are younger than 23. That argument does not hold up, though, due to the prospect of another bill passing this year that lowers the permit age to 21.
Last weekend I attended the annual Democrat Days rally in Hannibal. On Saturday morning, during the youth panel, MU College Democrats President Brian Roach asked the legislators what their opinions were on this bill. Rep. Rebecca McClanahan, D-Kirksville, answered first, saying she would vote against the bill because the Truman State University Department of Campus Safety asked her to oppose the bill. This is in line with what MU Police Department Chief Jack Watring was quoted saying few weeks ago in a Maneater article, in which he said that allowing concealed weapons on campus made him uneasy, considering the possible scenarios.
Besides my belief that concealed weapons do not act as a deterrent, and adding guns to a campus-shooting scenario only complicates things, the probability for accidents is the scariest prospect. A Harvard study, "Guns and Gun Threats at College," found that a vast majority of gun related accidents occurred when those who owned guns participated in binge drinking.
That fact only seems to bolster MU political science professor Bill Horner's claim from his book "Show Down in the Show-Me State" that "given the lack of rational thought often displayed by college-aged young adults, it is not difficult to understand why university officials had concerns about anything that made it easier to carry guns on campus."
Let's keep MU safe and end discriminating policies.
Nate Kennedy is chairman of the Young Democrats of Missouri College Federation. He can be reached at nkennedy@themaneater.com
