Faculty guns in regents’ hands

Specially trained faculty and staff could carry guns at Nevada's colleges and universities if a Board of Regents committee that endorsed the idea Thursday has its way.

The proposal, which was designed to help prevent the kinds of deadly shootings that have swept the nation's schools, faces its last test today, a vote by the full board.

The Board of Regents traditionally has agreed with committee recommendations, even close ones like Thursday's 3-2 vote.

But the proposal, the brainchild of Regent Stavros Anthony, who also is a Las Vegas police captain, and born out of the shootings at Virginia Tech earlier this year, could still be killed by the 13-member board.

As it stood by the end of the day Thursday, six regents said they opposed the idea or had serious concerns about it, four said they supported it, and three were undecided.

University system Chancellor Jim Rogers, who thought arming some staff members was a good idea when Anthony originally pitched it, promised Thursday to fight it, out of fears about how the policy would be perceived by the rest of the nation.

"We're going to mount an attack against it," Rogers said.

Several other officials expressed concern over the proposal, which Anthony said would be the only one like it in the country.

The issue thrust regents into the national spotlight. It has been reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education and in numerous wire stories.

"I'm concerned about our image nationally," said UNLV Faculty Senate Chairman Bryan Spangelo. "We're now going to be known as the Runnin' and Gunnin' Rebels."

Most faculty, many students and some college presidents oppose the plan.

"We just feel this is way, way, way too extreme," said Board of Regents Vice Chairman Howard Rosenberg, the only regent who is also a faculty member, at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The proposal would establish a corps of reserve police officers made up partly of faculty. They would be allowed to take time off, with pay, to go through 21-week police academy training.

The institution would cover the cost of the training.

The university or college president would have the final say on who goes through the program.

The presidents of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of Nevada, Reno and Great Basin College have said they are not in favor of it.

The interim president of the College of Southern Nevada said he supported it.

"We think that would be contrary to achieving the institutional goals academically," UNR President Milton Glick said.

Three of the university system's four police chiefs, including the chiefs at UNLV and CSN, spoke in support of the measure Thursday.

But aside from one other person, everybody else who spoke during public comment opposed the idea.

Alok Pandey, a CSN professor and president of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, wondered why regents would support the measure when the vast majority of faculty opposed it and most students were against it.

The chairmen of all eight faculty senates opposed the idea, and all faculty senates which have voted on the proposal have overwhelmingly opposed it.

"This is not a solution to the problem; this is a last resort," said Ryan Crowell, student body president of Nevada State College at Henderson.

Faculty have expressed a host of questions and concerns about the proposal, including whether the armed faculty members should be allowed to make arrests and whether the funds could be better spent elsewhere.

But many are opposed for philosophical reasons or because they believe allowing professors to carry a gun on campus would alter relationships with students.

Jannet Vreeland, UNR interim vice president and provost, said the proposal left open the possibility for discrimination accusations if, for example, the person who applied to go through the training had lawsuits pending against the university and was denied the training.

The three regents who voted for the plan Thursday said it would better protect students and faculty, citing a rash of shootings at public schools and universities across the country.

Anthony started the discussion by reading about different school shootings, including Wednesday's incident at a Cleveland high school that left several people wounded.

"These incidents have happened in the past, and they're going to happen in the future, and we need to do something about it," Anthony said.

"Something has to be done," Regent Cedric Crear said. "We're living in an environment that's a crazy environment."

But Rogers received applause after he said that approving the measure would send "word across the whole world that you're now ready to arm all the faculty."

After the regents voted, the audience let out a collective groan. Anthony asked for them to quiet down so the committee could move onto the next item on its agenda.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0440.