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The University of Wisconsin Faculty Senate voted unanimously to forbid any university employee from carrying a concealed weapon without explicit permission at Monday’s meeting, members of the senate confirmed.
University employees will now be prohibited from carrying a concealed firearm in the “course and scope of employment.”
The recommendation passed unanimously through the Faculty Senate with two amendments related to law enforcement on campus, University Committee Chair Brad Barham said.
One amendment clarified that officers of the UW Police Department have the right to carry their firearms while they are on duty, and the other amendment said UWPD’s chief would be one of the designees to decide who would be able to carry a concealed weapon, Barham said.
The amendments were minor, Provost Paul DeLuca said in an interview with The Badger Herald, and did not change the spirit of the motion on concealed carry on campus.
“We do not allow [concealed carry] in our buildings period. [The motion] dealt with employees,” DeLuca said.
People will be able to apply for permits to carry concealed weapons starting Nov. 1. According to the recommendation from the Faculty Senate, the university had previously requested to the Legislature that the UW campus be granted an exemption from concealed carry, but it was not granted.
However, the university can take action to keep weapons out of its buildings, including putting up signs on the doors, according to the recommendation.
At the meeting, DeLuca said, Interim Chancellor David Ward expressed interest in adding another year onto his stay at UW as chancellor.
Ward said that if offered, he would consider extending his time as chancellor at UW, DeLuca said. The UW System Board of Regents would ultimately make the decision on whether or not this would be possible.
From September 1: Wis., UW get ready for concealed carry
The matter is in the hands of UW System President Kevin Reilly, Ward said in an email to The Badger Herald.
“I was very pleased to hear Chancellor Ward express willingness to stay for another year if the Board of Regents deems it appropriate, and it was especially notable that his statement received a loud, sustained round of applause from the faculty,” sociology professor and Faculty Senate member Sara Goldrick-Rab said in an email to The Badger Herald.
Another point of discussion during the meeting surrounded making student IDs viable as voter IDs following the passing of the Voter ID bill into law, DeLuca said.
DeLuca said estimates for the cost of creating valid voter IDs varied and the university does not yet know how much it would definitely cost to manufacture IDs.
Barham said the governmental stipulations on what would constitute a valid voter ID keep shifting, and the university does not want to manufacture enough IDs for every UW student only to have the stipulations on the IDs shift again.
“We will make sure students have appropriate IDs. We are trying to figure out how to do it. But we’re rapidly running out of time,” DeLuca said.
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