Texas academics told to avoid 'sensitive topics' if gun law goes into effect

[TomCADem]

Source: The Guardian

When the University of Texas released a report last week detailing where it plans to allow guns on its Austin campus, Nora Dolliver’s choice of graduate schools narrowed by one.

The languages student at the University of Chicago sent an email to staff with the subject “Declining Offer of Admission Due to Campus Carry Guidelines”, and will now pursue a dual masters in Russian and Eastern European studies and library sciences elsewhere. Someplace where she can feel confident that the person she is sitting next to is not packing a concealed pistol.

Students and academics have warned of a chilling effect on freedom of expression ever since Texas became the latest state to pass a “campus carry” law last year. It compels public universities to allow license holders aged 21 and over to bring concealed handguns on to most areas of campus.

The faculty senate at the University of Houston prepared a slideshow for recent faculty forums warning that academics may want to “be careful discussing sensitive topics; drop certain topics from your curriculum; not ‘go there’ if you sense anger; limit student access off hours; go to appointment-only office hours; only meet ‘that student’ in controlled circumstances.”


Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-academics-told-to-avoid-sensitive-topics-if-gun-law-goes-into-effect/ar-BBpWFzJ?li=BBnb4R7&ocid=iehp

[jalan48]

1. Wow! It's a War on Education now.

No burning of books needed.

[awoke_in_2003]

41. There has been a war on education

for 30 years.

[jalan48]

47. Oh-not like this my friend.

When you are afraid to speak up in class because someone has a gun-that's a whole new level of war.

[awoke_in_2003]

59. True...

it has gotten more literal.

[Thinkingabout]

2. HUM, just the same reasoning guns should not be introduced if "sensitive topics"

should be avoided, why have the guns available.

[GGJohn]

3. FFS!!

This hasn't been an issue at the other colleges that allow for CC, why in the world would TX be any different?

[MillennialDem]

43. 1. It's Texas. 2. How do you know it isn't an issue? Everyone knows guns are

about intimidation.

[GGJohn]

50. ...

Everyone knows guns are about intimidation.

Let's see your proof of this.

[MillennialDem]

58. It absolutely is. You know you guys want to pull your piece on those who disagree

[GGJohn]

61. So, no proof, just bullshit.

Thanks for proving my point.

[MillennialDem]

62. You didn't prove you don't want to

[GGJohn]

63. You didn't prove I want to Dr. Freud.

[MillennialDem]

66. I know you're just seething at me.

[GGJohn]

67. Seething?

Not at all, I'm amused that you think you know what I want to do.

[MillennialDem]

68. Laugh all you want, but I think a lot of you guys want to pull a gun during heated discourse on

the matter.

[GGJohn]

70. Think what you want,

but so far, you've provided no proof of your claim.

[LisaM]

4. Sigh.

When are we going to start undoing these laws?

[villager]

5. At least there's an honesty there that gun fetishism is about bullying and control, and nothing else

As it has always been.

[Person 2713]

28. True

[TipTok]

35. How would you know if someone is concealed carrying or not?

[Duckhunter935]

51. notice how no answer

[villager]

65. As long as you avoid "sensitive topics," i guess.... nt

[msongs]

6. the purpose of carrying guns is to threaten, intimidate, bully and kill if so desired nt

[kentauros]

7. Texas academics should just avoid teaching.

That way, when parents complain that their money is going into the college/university, and their kids aren't getting taught anything, they can be shown the real problem and where to direct their ire: The Texas Legislature.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

36. they've already accomplished that in grade school

looking at how Texas manages to select the textbooks for early readin, and ritin, and rithmatick.

[kentauros]

46. Not quite what I was going after.

And so far, parents of grade-school children aren't as financially burdened as those with kids going to college/university. That's the incentive to pester the Lege on this gun law.

[jtuck004]

8. As a grad student you thought teaching sections for the "professors" was a thankless job that

couldn't possibly get worse or more demeaning.

Ahhh, education.


The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.
Steven Biko

[TheLogicalSong]

9. It sure gives trigger warnings a whole new meaning. nt

[tblue37]

10. Kansa is requiring cc on campus, too. They have given us until 2017 to adjust to

it. I think it will chill discussion in class and also fuel grade inflation.

[longship]

11. For instance, biology, climate science, geology, anthropology, archeology, physics.

All horribly controversial subjects in Texas.

Better not teach em, if ya know what's good for ya.
<== of course

[KT2000]

12. people already do this

because our daily lives are changing to accommodate weapon carriers and those we suspect may be carrying a weapon. This is how the insane take control of a society - it is what they will tolerate from others. Bully behavior is teaching us to submit.

[TipTok]

34. That falls squarely in the 'your problem' category...

I'm not asking for accommodation other than to be left alone.

You'll never know if I'm carrying or not.

Your fears and suspicions about that are on you.

[KT2000]

39. No

an increasingly armed population changes everyone's behavior. You are part of a larger society and the actions you take affect the larger society for better or for worse. Every action all of us take affects those around us. You can believe you are separate and apart from the larger society but you are not. People who are enamored with carrying guns are drowning in their own fear. What is it they think will happen to them - someone might disrespect them or something like the murders we read about every day by another person with a gun?

A man who massacres his family is not a criminal until he fires the weapon.
A messed up kid is not a criminal until he massacres 5 and 6 year-olds.
A guy dumped by his girlfriend is not a criminal until he unloads a weapon in a mall or her workplace.

It is not a coincidence that our airwaves are filled with hate, people feel comfortable yelling their bigotry, and more people are becoming zealots about weapons. Our society is sick.

[TipTok]

40. So...

A man who massacres his family is not a criminal until he fires the weapon.
A messed up kid is not a criminal until he massacres 5 and 6 year-olds.
A guy dumped by his girlfriend is not a criminal until he unloads a weapon in a mall or her workplace.

My decision to carry or not has no effect on you because you will never know.

As for the rest of it, what do you suggest? Some sort of pre-crime arrest?

Folks aren't criminals until they commit a criminal act? No kidding. Deep analysis indeed...

[KT2000]

49. an increasingly armed society

changed everyone's behavior. If you carry a weapon so all can see it then you are changing the behavior of those people. Is the point to intimidate, scare or what? If someone seems mentally unstable then it is wise not to engage them because they could be carrying a gun - that is how it is now.

You have resorted to insult in your last comment which ends discussions so I am through.

[w0nderer]

13. K to keep visible n/t

[DirkGently]

14. An armed society

... is a society nervously deferential to rightwing political sensitivities.

Which is exactly the point of all of this of course.

[sulphurdunn]

21. Yep, it's called 'be nice to me and don't piss me off or I'll kill you.'

[TeamPooka]

15. Cowboy U! Dueling in the quad gets a Varsity sweater right? nt

[DetlefK]

16. I'm confused. Isn't the pro-gun argument that the presence of guns makes people safer?

So why would an institution implement a rule that is hailed at making people safer, yet turns around and issues warnings that because of this new rule people are less safe?

[Ilsa]

69. Okay, okay, okay. Don't try try to

be rational about these people who'll shoot it out if that egghead says the wrong thing, contrary to what redneck daddy says. Forget about discussing abortion laws and their impact, federal ownership of lands, the Civil War, dinosaurs, geology, evolution, etc.

[ManiacJoe]

17. If an armed faculty and staff are feared that much,

then those members need to be fired whether or not they are carrying.

Campus carry is not about the students. The vast majority of the students are prohibited from carrying due to the 21 age limit. This results in only the older half of the senior class as the traditional students being even allowed to carry.

[Bad Dog]

18. There's a feature on the BBC website about those who want to relax our laws.

It won't happen, if anything the mood is for greater gun control.

"It's frustrating for me that when you tell someone you own a gun you're instantly labelled a weirdo. It's like a secret society," Callum Long-Collins explains from a gun shop in Botley Mills, Hampshire.

He owns seven firearms, but did not want to show them in his own home in case it gave the wrong impression and scared the neighbours.

"What people jump to is that I own guns for illicit reasons. But I have absolutely no intention of using a gun in the bad way - I just enjoy the sport of shooting," he adds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35588594

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. TX & KS degrees will be devalued over time; lower job prospects: lower quality ed & grade inflation

It will be harder to attract and keep faculty.

As another poster pointed out, there will be some grade inflation because some students (never know who) will be sensitive to Cs, Ds, and Fs.

When profs and teaching assistants and lab instructors and seminar leaders are all pussyfooting around and never disagreeing with students, educational quality will be lowered.

It will be harder to get a job with a Texas or Kansas degree. Harder to get into a grad school.

Ideologues run roughshod over reason.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

37. Wait. Kansas permits higher education?

How did Brownback miss that one?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. keepgunsoffcampus.org armedcampuses.org

http://keepgunsoffcampus.org

http://armedcampuses.org/

[sulphurdunn]

22. I'm sick and tired of hearing the rightwing crap

about responsible gun owners. Responsible gun owners would never feel a need to carry weapons, concealed or otherwise, onto a college classroom, and if they did they wouldn't be there. Are we headed for responsible toddlers packing child size, concealed weapons to daycare?

[TipTok]

23. If it helps..

You'll never know if I'm carrying or not.

[sulphurdunn]

32. I'll tell you what I know.

I know that one hell of a lot fewer walnut brains are going to carry concealed weapons on college campuses if they might go to jail for it than if it's legal.

[TipTok]

33. Seems to be a bit of a disconnect...

You seem to be suggesting that someone would be law abiding enough to only carry where legal but non law abiding enough to blast a professor at the drop of a hat.

Strange...

[sulphurdunn]

45. Some people would indeed be law abiding enough

to only carry a weapon where legal. Most people would not carry one even though it were legal. As for "blasting a professor at the drop of a hat," someone else, or himself, the odds of that declines as the number of armed monkeys in the room declines. It's simple probability. Nothing strange about it from the standpoint of reason.

[TipTok]

48. Get enough people in one spot...

... And eventually one of them will do something bad.

More amazing analysis...

[sulphurdunn]

52. What do you mean by bad?

Being rude is bad. Homicide is bad too. The latter is much more likely to occur when people are carrying guns. It isn't rocket science. Think about it.

[TipTok]

53. I can't control other people...

... And frankly have little desire to do so.

I am responsible for my actions alone and thus I will carry if and when I please. You are free to choose differently but don't expect me to give up my rights because you are uncomfortable.

[sulphurdunn]

54. Anyone who thinks he has the right

to carry a weapon anywhere he chooses, anytime he chooses, claims a right he doesn't have, never did, and hopefully never will.

[TipTok]

55. I should clarify...

I carry where I legally can and support the efforts to expand those spaces.

[sulphurdunn]

56. I support you right to own firearms.

I do not support your right to carry them in public schools and universities, courthouses, or anywhere else the people conduct public business. Nor do I support your right to carry them onto any private property against the wishes of the owner.

[Person 2713]

29. Yes perhaps, look below in Iowa they are almost ready now

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iowa-kids-handguns_us_56ce4af9e4b0bf0dab30cae7
Yes they can only carry with parent for now but it won't be long before they are right next to their cell phonesin a back pack going to school . Conceal carry if not already won't be hard to pass for kids

[sulphurdunn]

57. I thought I was being facetious.

[Person 2713]

60. Nah, they gôt it covered for real. Passed 62-36 & this won't be the last state to insure

gun freedumb for toddlers!

[Solly Mack]

24. Sounds like a safe and free learning environment. Not.

[sarisataka]

25. Does anyone

Have a link to data of current violence in Texas campus classes?

[antigop]

26. can you bring a gun into the Texas legislature? If not, why not? nt

[Person 2713]

30. Yeah I don't get that ...hmmmm

[Bernardo de La Paz]

38. Likewise, not to a Republican rally. But you can to church. Go figure. . . nt

[Judi Lynn]

42. Don't they want to be safe where "commies" might break in and try to kill them?

You'd think they would want to double up on their guns, since commies, and muslins, and race-mixers might want to take them all at once, when they are gathered with other lunatics for some politickin'.

[bullwinkle428]

27. Drip, drip, drip - this is creeping fascism.

[moondust]

31. "GPA leverage"

[Dont call me Shirley]

44. Code for "Shut up Liberals/Progressives/DemocraticSocialists"

[SecularMotion]

64. Does the 2nd amendment trump the 1st amendment?

This will make an interesting Supreme Court case.

[GOLGO 13]

71. Texas+ guns + school.

As god intended.