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Anti-hazing bill passes Senate unanimously, heads to House p. 3 The Daily Athenaeum
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WVU’s Independent Student Newspaper
High Street becomes an art gallery during Morgantown’s art crawl p. 6
WVU returns home hoping to end losing streak p. 11
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MONDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2018
www.thedaonline.com
What campus carry could look like on WVU’s campus BY JOE SEVERINO NEWS EDITOR After years of being able to successfully defend against various campus carry bills from going into law, WVU is now preparing for the very real possibility of guns being allowed on campus. House Bill 2519, or the “Campus Carry” bill, if passed, would allow anyone who has a concealed carry permit to carry a gun on campus. At a Campus Conversation held on Friday, WVU Vice President for Strategic Initiatives Rob Alsop said this campus carry bill, unlike others in the past, has seen strong support in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature. “If I had to guess, I think this legislation would pass,” he said. The bill currently sits in the House Judiciary Committee, the same committee last year’s campus carry bill died in. But this year, Alsop said the House will likely advance the bill to the state Senate if it does pass committee. “I think there’s a lot of support in the Senate for the legislation as well,” Alsop said in an interview following the discussion. When asked about the bill being signed into law by Gov. Jim Justice, Alsop said he isn’t sure of Justice’ position at the moment. “I haven’t directly spoken with the governor’s office about it, but I think it’s got strong support in both the House and the Senate,” Alsop said. The Details of the Bill The bill, as it currently is written, would only prohibit concealed carry in: • Venues or arenas with a capacity of more than 1,500 spectators • Day care facilities
“If I had to guess, I think this legislation would pass. I haven’t directly spoken with the governor’s office about it, but I think it’s got strong support in both the House and the Senate.” -Rob Alsop, WVU Vice President for Strategic Initiatives S
• Areas used exclusively by K-12 or private entities • Areas where the University has implemented adequate security measures The University would have to specify where “adequate security measures” would be implemented on campus, Alsop said, which the WVU Board of Governors would vote on in the future. The bill allows anyone who is 21 years old or older who has a concealed carry permit from West Virginia, or one of the 34 states whose permits West Virginia recognizes, to carry a concealed weapon on campus. It allows anyone from 18 to 20 years old who has a provisional permit in West Virginia to carry a concealed weapon. WVU does not recognize provisional permits from any other state than West Virginia. If someone is 18 to 20 years old and is from out of state, the only way they could receive a permit is by obtaining a West Virginia provisional permit, but Alsop said provisional permits are only offered to those who can prove West
Virginia residency. No international concealed carry permits will be recognized, WVU Police Chief W.P. Chedester said at the discussion. WVU will not track weapons or make permit users register with the University, Alsop said in response to a crowd question. “We don’t plan on tracking,” he said. “I don’t think that’s something any other state has done.” The bill only permits concealed carry, which means WVU would have the full authority to make individuals who publicly display a weapon or someone who does not have a valid permit leave campus. Exemptions When it began looking like this bill could soon become law, Alsop said the University’s only saving grace was that it could lobby for certain exemptions to the bill. As the bill is currently written, the exemptions listed above are the only ones so far.
PHOTO BY JOE SEVERINO
Vice President for Strategic Initiatives Rob Alsop spoke to a crowd Friday afternoon about the details of House Bill 2519 in the Mountainlair Ballrooms. Alsop said the reality of the situation is the bill that’s currently written could probably pass the legislature fairly easily. He said WVU could have sent an arsenal to Charleston to try and defeat the bill entirely, but now it’s more important to lobby legislators for certain exemptions like additional funding or more firearm-restricted areas. He gave an example number of 18 exemptions, and said WVU would try as hard as it could to get 14 of those. He said fighting the bill entirely at this point could anger legislators enough to not give WVU any exemptions at all. “We don’t want to jeopardize losing those,” he said. “I don’t want to call it an agreement, but [the legislature will] keep these 14 exemptions, and we’ll tell people not to try to amend this bill, and it’ll go in this form.”
Guns in Residence Halls, Stadiums and Campus Buildings The bill would restrict campus carry at venues with more than 1,500 spectators, which on WVU’s campus are Milan Puskar Field, the Coliseum, Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, Monongalia County Ballpark and the Creative Arts Center. A classroom or building on campus would not be exempted under the current bill, but Alsop said the BOG could mark an area like the Mountainlair ballrooms as a restricted area due to its seating capacity, but the downstairs of the Mountainlair wouldn’t be exempt.
SEE CARRY CONT. ON P.3
Incident that caused Alpha Phi suspension still not disclosed STAFF REPORTS Despite multiple requests, the University did not provide information by publication time about what caused WVU’s chapter of Alpha Phi to be suspended and put under investigation. “We are aware of a concerning incident that did not involve physical harm to any individual at Alpha Phi sorority and we are conducting an investigation into the events,”
WVU spokesperson John Bolt wrote in an email on Wednesday. “The sorority has been placed on interim suspension pending the outcome of the investigation.” That incident was not specified further. “I double checked and nothing new at this point on Alpha Phi,” April Kaull, a WVU spokesperson, said in an email Sunday evening. The national headquarters of Alpha Phi has not responded to requests for comment.
• Motto: Union Hand in Hand • Chapter: Beta Iota • Nickname: Phi • National Founding Date: Sept. 18, 1872 • Local Founding Date: 1930 • National Website: alphaphi.org INFO VIA 2019 WVU RECRUITMENT GUIDE
PHOTO BY DOUGLAS SOULE
The Alpha Phi house located at 261 Willey St.