More Than 270 UT-Austin Professors Sign Petition To Refuse Guns in Their Classrooms

More than 270 professors at the University of Texas-Austin have signed a petition to ban guns in their classrooms. The petition comes on the heels of last week’s deadly campus shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.

History professor Joan Neuberger co-organized the petition.

“By adding your name to this list you are under no obligation to DO anything. We will be planning some collective action when the law takes effect in Fall 2016, but at present it is a statement and it is up to the individual to interpret it as they wish, and to take action (or not) however they choose,” the petition says.

“If you feel the language in the “Refuse” statement is too strong, you can sign our Change.org petition to “Oppose Guns in Classrooms” : we have 3200+ names but want to reach at least 5000! Everyone should sign this and get everyone they know to sign it. Also, please add your comment and identify yourself with your position at UT in the comments section of the Change.org petition,” according to the petition.

The petition also comes as UT-Austin gets set to allow open carry on campus, beginning on Aug, 1, 2016. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law on June 1. It allows “license holders may carry a concealed handgun throughout university campuses, starting Aug. 1, 2016. The law gives public universities some discretion to regulate campus carry.”

Neuberger told DailyKos that classrooms need to be a safe place.

“If people feel there might be a gun in the classroom, students have said that it makes them feel like they would be much more hesitant to raise controversial issues, and I know, as a professor, I would be hesitant to encourage students to debate really important and controversial ideas,” Neuberger said. “The classroom is a very special place, and it needs to be a safe place, and that means safe from guns.”

Read the petition here.

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