Colleges across Ohio won’t change existing firearms policies

A new Ohio law giving colleges and universities the option of allowing concealed carry on their campuses has received significant attention at Ohio University, drawing action from various governing bodies at the school. However, the response OU students and faculty have given to the law is greater than that of many other colleges around the state, which either have yet to take up the issue or recommitted to their existing policies banning deadly weapons on campus.Ohio State University, for example, is one of multiple colleges across the state that have elected to stick with existing policies.“The policy that has been in place at Ohio State for many years is that concealed firearms are prohibited on our campuses,” OSU spokesperson Chris Davey said in a statement. “No change in this policy is under consideration by the Board of Trustees.”Other universities have also said they are not interested in revising existing campus bans on firearms. The Faculty Senate, Undergraduate Student Government and the Graduate Student Governance Association at the University of Cincinnati have passed resolutions against allowing concealed carry on the school’s campus.Joining UC and OSU are also Miami University, Xavier University and Wright State, among others.The University of Dayton, which also has a policy that currently bans firearms on campus, has not stated an opinion on the topic yet. Its administration is following the topic closely, Faculty Senate President Joe Valenzano said in an email. He also said Faculty Senate hadn’t taken up the topic yet.The law allows higher education institutions to choose if they want concealed carry on their campuses. However, a school’s board of trustees must decide to allow concealed carry at the school because the default policy is a ban on firearms.The Ohio University Board of Trustees will be discussing the topic at its Friday meeting, although it does not plan to make a decision at that time.OU students will also vote on a referendum on Jan. 23 and 24 about whether concealed carry should be allowed on all campuses. The results of the vote will be part of Student Senate’s decision and the recommendation the body sends on to the Board of Trustees. Faculty Senate has already spoken out against changing campus policies.