U. redirects gun fight
School asks legislators to preserve part of ban
After losing a lengthy and costly court battle, U. President Michael Young is working with legislators to find if the no-guns rule could work in limited circumstances such as in residence halls and athletic venues.
"My sense is that at the end of the day, the Legislature and the university ought to share the same agenda, which is the issue of safety," Young said.
The school's five-year court battle ended in September when the Utah Supreme Court struck down the gun ban at the state's flagship university, saying the school had no authority to make policy contrary to state statute. Although school leaders initially said they would continue with a federal case, Young has now decided to try to work through the Legislature after already spending roughly $300,000 battling through the courts.
John Morris, the U.'s general counsel, said that money came from discretionary donations to the university and not from tax or tuition funds.
Young, who previously worked as a lawyer, said it would not have been his first choice to go to court, but he could not second-guess the decision of former U. President Bernie Machen, who started the court battle in 2001.
The Legislature is where Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said the discussion should have taken place all along, noted Brent Burnett, assistant Utah attorney general.
"The university needs to take its concerns to the Legislature, and they were not doing that," Burnett said. "The U. originally made claims that they had the right to make decisions independent of the Legislature. The Utah Supreme Court said, 'No, it's for the Legislature, not for the university."'
Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said he's already put together an informal task force to work with Young on finding a middle ground to the school's strict no-gun law, which started in 1977 and has been suspended following the state Supreme Court's decision.
Valentine said most legislators want to work with the U. to address communal living situations like dormitories that can complicate the rights of concealed-weapons permit carriers. In particular, school leaders are hoping to keep guns out of residence halls and athletic arenas, said Kim Wirthlin, vice president for government relations at the U.
"Coming to a university can be a stressful experience, and we're concerned that if guns are in some of these areas, there could be accidental discharges," she said. "People could be injured — could be killed — and that kind of an environment is one where circumstances could be out of someone's control, so it makes sense not to have guns."
Regardless of what the Legislature decides, Burnett said the school's dilemma sets a precedent of how government entities should go about making policies.
"The Legislature wants a uniform law across all the state so everybody knows where you can and can't do things," he said. "It could have been any issue."
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