June 22, 2007

Nevada Regents Approve Plan to Arm Professors

The Nevada System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents has endorsed a plan that would encourage faculty and staff members to go about their business armed with guns that could be used to thwart an attack like the one that took 32 lives at Virginia Tech in April. According to the Web site of KLAS, a local television station in Las Vegas, the regents approved a plan under which the system would pay a $3,000 fee for each faculty or staff member who wanted to take a 21-week training course in how to use firearms. The plan got mixed reviews from the students KLAS interviewed. —Andrew Mytelka

Update: An official with the Nevada system has commented below (at No. 13) that the KLAS report is wrong, that the board did not endorse a plan to arm faculty and staff members, and that the board would consider a proposal on the matter at its August meeting.

Comments

1. While I can understand why this approach has been taken, I don’t believe it will alleviate the more critical issue. How do faculty deal with students under emotional distress. I believe campuses need to begin to investigate how they will deal with studetns who are entering our doors with emotional problems. The last think I want to read in Chronicle or see on the news is that a faculty/staff member of a campus had to shoot a student.

   — Liliana Mickle    Jun 25, 07:54 AM    #

2. And what happens when a emotionally distressed, armed, faculty member starts shooting people?

   — Laura Coleman    Jun 25, 09:17 AM    #

3. Leave it to Nevada to take extreme actions, however, I expect we will begin to see a general outcry for more armed police on campuses accross the country. Ironic that just 30 – 40 years ago the idea would have been resoundingly crushed by most academics.

   — Francisco Arce    Jun 25, 09:20 AM    #

4. Gives 21st century meaning to the 19th century phrase, “the wild, wild west”

   — JPS    Jun 25, 09:40 AM    #

5. The emotionally distressed faculty can bring their weapons to campus now. Maybe this would save lives.

   — John    Jun 25, 10:37 AM    #

6. Arming faculty and staff will not solve the problem. Equally useless is the proposed will a 21 week long course in using weapons (are they to go through a Rambo-X crash course?). Proper handling and use of guns require constant practice at the range, and a thorough classroom study of firearms supported by its minimal real-life application will produce results akin to a diligent perusal of Boeing 747 landing procedure manual in preparation to getting the thing down at O’Hare International. The decision of “use-not to use” is typically made in very challenging situations, in extremely short time; it requires much more preparation than the ability to cock the pistol and aim its barrel in the general direction of the target. Even with a 5 month course, unless “the moment of truth” occurs immediately after, the level of readiness will be fatally inadequate. The phenomenon of “skills erosion” has been documented sufficiently well in healthcare, and it applies as much to intubation as to the use of small arms.
   Out of sheer curiosity, one would also want to ask Nevada Regents whether they are:
   • Willing to pay for the acquisition of guns
   • Willing to pay for the range and instructor time required for skills maintenance
   • Willing to pay for the required ammunition
   • Willing to consider the required training as part of the contractual duties of the faculty, e.g., under the umbrella of university service, professional development, scholarly activities, etc.
   • Willing to guarantee release time from other duties in order to assure adequate time at the range
   • Willing to provide unequivocal legal protection against incidents of accidental shootings due to equally accidental discharges, etc.

   At present we have countless examples of civilians (and, at times, law enforcement personnel as well) using guns as “dispute solvers.” There is no evidence, real or anecdotal, to prove that university faculty and staff are endowed with better qualities of temper control. Simply put, the risk of debating the validity of Darwin’s theory or the rights of gays at our campuses by means of a fusillade of lead are simply too great to accept. Thus, considering all the pesky side issues of the “college arms race,” would it not be far more productive to contemplate adequate security measures, development of more intelligent procedures, and the exposure of all senior college/university personnel to advanced courses on potential threats, mitigation, and response? We would also be much better off having every faculty and staff member subject to mandatory training in appropriate behaviours in environments where the risk of casualties is real and imminent. The latter may be an unpopular approach with many faculty members. Still, in the contest between refusing to accept the realities of modern world, and the high probability of another massacre, the proposed training is a much safer solution than the hordes of trigger-happy assistant professors totting submachine guns loaded with HydraShock ammo who will provide “last ditch campus defence” Personally, if the latter solution is employed, I will buy a Kevlar vest, and don it each time I cross the campus line. That will be my passive defence. As the means of counterattack, and to prevent my eager assailant from getting too pushy, I will acquire a rocket launcher. It is my understanding that Russians still have some of those things for sale. Cheap.

   — Dag von Lubitz    Jun 25, 11:25 AM    #

7. Laura,
   May be other armed faculty members will be there to stop him/her?

   — Mark de Goz    Jun 25, 11:35 AM    #

8. This is a premature idea. It needs more time for reflection. At this point, I am not n favor of have faculty members armed on campus. Safety precautions within the campus system should be imlemented and enforced.

   William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
   Professor
   PhD Program in Educational Leadership
   Prairie View A&M University
   Member of the Texas A&M University System

   — William Allan Kritsonis, PhD    Jun 25, 11:59 AM    #

9. This is a huge step backwards. First of all, it’s an over reaction based on poor risk assessment. Moreover, the odds of matching up an armed professor with someone bent on slaughter are pretty slim.But of more concern, it takes us back to a bankrupt notion that laws will be obeyed because of fear. We do in fact wind up with the wild west, the history of which is largely a chronicle for moving from armed camps to a more civil society.

   — Dave    Jun 25, 12:21 PM    #

10. I agree with everyone here that this is a knee-jerk reaction that is likely to end badly if not reversed soon. If I were a college professor, I would not want the burden of responsibility that comes with that gun (eg, deciding when and when not to use, keeping up with practice, keeping it safe from others but handy just in case). And if there ever was an accident involving “my” gun, or myself and my gun, I don’t know if I would ever forgive myself.

    — CM    Jun 25, 01:12 PM    #

11. I fail to see how this is different in principle from a usual citizens conceal carry, which has proven so far to be trouble-free to the greatest extent, and why we should be worried about professors joining their ranks. Holders of concealed carry permits are involved in much fewer number of unjustified homicides than police officers and the lack of evidence that they represent any danger to society is obvious.

    — Mark de Goz    Jun 25, 02:29 PM    #

12. Yikes. ‘nuf said

    — Paul N. Deputy    Jun 25, 09:39 PM    #

13. First, the Nevada Board of Regents did not endorse any plan to arm faculty and staff. The regents decided there was not enough information to make any kind of decision on this topic so they directed the campus police chiefs to draft a plan. That plan will be presented to the regents at their August meeting. At that time, the regents may, or may not, implement a plan to arm faculty and staff.

    To repeat: No decision has been made that would arm faculty and staff at any Nevada System of Higher Education campus.

    John Kuhlman
    Manager of Public Information
    Nevada System of Higher Education

    — John Kuhlman    Jun 26, 11:13 AM    #

Previous: Conceptual Scoops of Academe: a Menagerie of the Mind
Next: UMass Trustees Decline to Revoke Mugabe's Honorary Degree