By GARRETT SAGER
Hays Post
At last month’s Fort Hays State University Faculty Senate meeting, Kerry Wasinger, FHSU general counsel, spoke on a new gun policy that would be implemented if the current concealed carry exemption does, in fact, expire July 1.
With the protest period passing, it appears assured the exemption period for FHSU and other Kansas Board of Regents schools — which allows the universities to prohibit concealed carry of handguns into public campus buildings including academic and residence halls — will expire.
According to Wasinger, in order to comply with the state law, the KBOR has created its own policy and has approved a gun policy for FHSU.
FHSU sent a resolution to Topeka in which they wanted to decided what kind of policy would be best for the university. The resolution stated, “the leadership of the various universities, having the clearest understanding of their particular campuses, are the people most likely to be able to identify the best interests of their students, faculty, and staff.”
In order to make its own gun policy, FHSU formed its own Gun Committee, which was in charge of coming up with the logistics of the new gun policy. It also worked with Duane Shepard, assistant professor at FHSU and head coach of the FHSU shooting team, in creating possible gun safety trainings.
Last month, Wasinger spoke on the initial plans for the gun policy, clarified some misinterpretations of the gun policy, and answered questions by concerned faculty members.
In a email, Wasinger wrote that FHSU is continuing to work with constituency groups to implement the new gun policy and that future notices will be coming on opportunities to learn more about the policy and how it will be applied across campus.
Below are the KBOR gun policy and the FHSU gun policy.
KBOR Weapons Possession Policy