The author of this article observes that, while much has been written on the overall topic of safety with regard to allowing guns on college campuses, little has been said about how allowing the possession of deadly weapons can create a "chilling effect" on academic discussions. This article considers how some universities have…

The question of whether guns should be permitted on college and university campuses in the United States reflects the tension between two competing perspectives. America has both a robust gun culture and an equally robust (if less well known) gun-control culture. The gun culture is as American as apple pie: There may be as many as 300 million…

This qualitative phenomenological study employed narrative inquiry to describe the decision-making processes that Texas school districts followed in enacting firearms policies that allow school employees to carry concealed weapons on district property. Exploration of the lived experiences of eight Texas superintendents in such schools contributed…

The most high-profile story of the year touching the higher education community was undisputedly the killings at Virginia Tech in April when student Seung-Hui Cho opened fire, leaving 33 people dead, including himself. To date, it is the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history. However, in September, the Delaware State University (DSU) community…

This report is the result of a nationwide survey conducted in March 2008 of student life officers and campus safety directors to assess the impact of the April 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech on campus safety and security policy and practice. Discussion areas include: (1) Student Privacy vs. Need-to-Know; (2) Prevention, Mitigation and Recovery;…

The recent shootings at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) shocked the nation and brought violence on college campuses to the forefront of the nation's attention. We surveyed college students and faculty/staff three weeks after the incident about their perceptions of the Virginia Tech shooting, subsequent media exposure, and school…