UT-Austin Nobel Prize Laureate Rails Against Guns On Campus

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN-UT, TX -- Nobel Prize laureate Steven Weinberg--arguably the most famous person at the University of Texas at Austin campus--leaves no room for doubt as to where he stands on the “campus carry” law that will soon allow gun owners to walk around freely with holstered firearms.

He’s very much against the measure.

“I will put it into my syllabus that the class is not open to students carrying guns,” he said during a recent meeting of UT’s Faculty Council covered by the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. “I may wind up in court; I’m willing to accept that responsibility.”

As the date nears for the August implementation of the new law to which public universities must adhere, a growing number of professors are voicing their opposition to the law that’s soon to take effect. Late last year, nearly 300 faculty members signed a petition declaring their opposition to having guns on campus.

Senate Bill 11 was signed into law last year, expanding campus carry rights for licensed gun owners to carry their concealed handguns. The measure is commonly known as “campus carry.”

A broader measure dubbed “open carry” took effect Jan. 1, and allows gun owners to walk around with holstered guns in plain view in the public realm.

In mid-December, faculty members joined students in an off-campus protest over the new measure. They descended onto a spot where pro-gun forces had scheduled a mock mass shooting, purportedly to dramatize what they perceive to be a need for people to be armed for self-defense purposes.

A growing list of business establishments have effectively opted out of the open carry law, availing themselves of that option by posting specifically worded signs prohibiting firearms on their premises.

Similarly, a growing number of private universities have opted out, declaring their campuses to be gun-free zones. St. Edward’s University in South Austin was the latest campus to opt out last week.

But public universities that receive state money will be forced to comply come August. UT President Gregory L. Fenves previously aired something of a compromise, proposing adherence to the law throughout campus except in dormitories.

But the state’s attorney general shot the idea down in a non-binding legal opinion, saying a firearms ban solely in dorm areas is tantamount to a general prohibition given the inconvenience of such piecemeal bans.

Gun-free zones within the campus would have the same effect as a blanket ban because of the impracticality--and near impossibility--of freely carrying a handgun on campus, AG Ken Paxton, argued.

Other than Fenves, Weinberg is the most prominent university figure to publicly air deep-seated concerns over the new law.

At the other end of the political spectrum, Gov. Greg Abbott was the biggest cheerleader leading up to the law’s passage, even going as far as to urging gun owners to buy more guns in the week’s leading up to open carry taking effect on New Year’s Day.

Weinberg minced no words as to where his fear is rooted as its relates to unfettered access to guns on campus: “Many faculty, including myself, are scared of guns in the hands of students who may violently disagree” with family members’ views, he said.

“It’s hard enough to recruit faculty who want to remain on the East or West coast,” Weinberg continued. “To tell them they have no power to keep guns out of their classrooms makes it that much harder.”

At the UT-Austin campus, Weinberg has something akin to an academic rock-star status. He won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1979 for work related to the discovery of the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle of the universe.

But even that lofty status might not be enough to shield the campus from guns.

On Tuesday, UT Chancellor Bill McRaven told a state Senate committee on gun issues the new law would be followed come August.

The Statesman reports McRaven said all UT System campuses have been advised to develop policies complying with the new law. In doing so, the focus will be on safety and an eye toward acclimating to the law with minimal distractions, he noted.

Yet as the day nears for ”campus carry” to take effect, the din of opposition continues to grow in volume, with no signs of being silenced.