Houston Chronicle piece about CC on Texas campuses

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How ‘Campus Carry’ Will Change the Way Texas Students Live Their Lives

By Emma Pettit JULY 15, 2016

Before this summer, Shaan Kewalramani, an incoming freshman at Texas A&M University at College Station, did not dwell on the fact that people with concealed-carry licenses would be able to bring their weapons into classrooms and dormitories at his new home in the fall. Then he noticed a thread in a Facebook group for new students.

"What’s everyone’s view on gun control?" the post asked. In the comments, Mr. Kewalramani added his own simple insight: "No guns," he wrote, earning a handful of likes. But the post was quickly overwhelmed by others who championed a student’s right to bear arms.

The conversation isn’t confined to Facebook. Mr. Kewalramani, who lives in Pennsylvania, is part of a GroupMe chat for incoming students in which he says people swap and compliment pictures of their firearms.

The virtual chatter surprised Mr. Kewalramani. He and his high-school friends rarely discussed guns, let alone the prospect of people packing heat in university buildings and dorms. What was his new home, 1,500 miles out west, going to be like?

Right now, Mr. Kewalramani does not think a new law permitting students to carry firearms will profoundly alter his life in college. Rather, the idea that someone nearby might have a concealed weapon will often be "lingering in the back of my mind," he said.

Residential campuses in Texas, and across the country, are more than just a collection of classrooms. They are years-long homes to thousands of students whose lives play out largely on campus grounds. With the introduction of firearms comes more than just questions about the classroom: How, for example, do you find a roommate when some students will carry guns and others won’t? How do you resolve conflicts in dorms when one student may be armed?

‘Not That Big of a Learning Curve’

The law, known as SB 11 or campus carry, takes effect on August 1. It gives Texas institutions some wiggle room in deciding whether or not to allow guns in dormitories.

A few, like the University of Texas at Austin, have banned guns from residence halls. The university’s implementation policy states that because students in those dorms share bedrooms, that presents a "special danger" of "accidental loss, theft, or misuse by roommates or others," which is an "unacceptably high risk."

But a majority of Texas colleges will allow guns in dorms to some extent. Some, like the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at San Antonio, will give private rooms to students with concealed-carry licenses. Others are hashing out recommendations for students and residential assistants to deal with potential conflicts related to campus carry.


At Texas A&M's flagship, in College Station, a majority of the 60,000 students live off campus. And 95 percent of students who live in residence halls are under 21, making them ineligible to hold a concealed-carry license, Sherylon Carroll, a university spokeswoman, wrote in an email. Because of that, "we see no evidence that campus carry has, or will, significantly impact roommate assignments," Ms. Carroll wrote.

But institutions must still make plans for the exceptions. At Midwestern State University, in Wichita Falls, campus officials will use student feedback to review the roommate-assignment process and change it if necessary, said Kristi Schulte, director of residence life.

Guidelines are being finalized on how students who own guns should act in their dorm rooms, said Patrick Coggins, the university’s chief of police. Most likely, he said, students will be required to store their weapons in safes rented from the office of residence life whenever they are not in that person’s direct, physical control.

"You can’t just leave it sitting out on the desk or in the kitchen or something," Mr. Coggins said.

Midwestern State is also training resident assistants to facilitate conversations and navigate potential conflicts between roommates regarding the policy, said Ms. Schulte.

"We want to make sure that they’re not escalating situations, but teach them how to have a productive conversation," she said.

Also, if a student is uncomfortable living with someone with a concealed-carry license, that student can request a room change at any point in the semester, she said.

At Texas A&M University at Kingsville, students will be able to request double-locked dressers with a gun safe affixed inside, and that safe could be used to store a firearm or other valuable items, said Terisa C. Riley, the university’s senior vice president for student affairs. So far, the university has ordered 10 dressers at a cost of roughly $3,000 total, she wrote in an email.
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