MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017 | VOLUME 134 ISSUE 05
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
Students hope campus carry has limited effect ANGIE BALDELOMAR @ AngieBaldelomar
A
s concealed carry begins at the University, students expect some minimal changes to the overall campus atmosphere. Any person over the age of 21 now has the right to carry concealed weapons in any building owned by the state that doesn’t have the security measures required (metal detectors and security guards at any point of entrance). Universities and hospitals were given a fouryear exemption that ended Saturday. A 2015 Board of Regents
survey done across all universities in Kansas said that out of the 10,886 student responses, 70 percent wanted the law amended so that guns were not allowed on campus. Many bills in the legislature attempting to amend this law have failed to gain traction, making guns on campus a reality. For many, the exemption ending won’t change much, if anything, in the campus atmosphere. Sophomore Travis Perkins, from Maize, said he doesn’t think anything will change. “I think after the first year of it nobody’s going to care because they’re just going to get used to the
fact that people might have guns,” he said. The fact that people are allowed to carry handguns open and concealed outside campus grounds is a reason why Perkins thinks this won’t change. That and the fact that people won’t know who is carrying a weapon, he added. At the University of Kansas, in the fall of 2016, 41 percent of undergraduates, or 7,637 students, were 21 or older, making them old enough to carry a weapon. This number does not take SEE GUNS PAGE 2
Andrea Ringgenberg/KANSAN Students and faculty gather on Wescoe Beach in April to protest the upcoming implementation of concealed carry on campus.
July brings significant administrative changes to KU CHANDLER BOESE @Chandler_Boese
This past Saturday, July 1, brought plenty of changes to the University, from a new chancellor to concealed carry on campus to the departure of several senior administrators. But there are some changes that will be delayed this July as well. The position of vice chancellor for public affairs has been unofficially empty for a couple of weeks now and will continue that way until incoming Chancellor Dr. Doug Girod names an interim vice
Andrea Ringgenberg/KANSAN Dr. Doug Girod speaks to the press after being named the University’s next chancellor in May.
chancellor. Tim Caboni left the post in mid-June to become the
president of Western Kentucky University, but his tenure officially expired July
1, said Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, the University’s director of News and Media Relations. She said the University is waiting for Girod to take office before naming a temporary replacement. Like the Public Affairs Office, the Department of Student Housing will go without a leader for a couple weeks, as outgoing director Diana Robertson retired in the last week of June and incoming director Sarah Waters won’t begin until July 17. However, some of the most high-profile adminis-
trative changes should go off without a hitch. Outgoing Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little officially stepped down Saturday as Girod took her place. Incoming business dean L. Paige Fields of Trinity University was scheduled to take over the School of Business on July 1 and incoming social welfare dean Michelle Carney is beginning in July as well. Both of those positions have been held on an interim basis for a year. Girod’s previous role as executive vice chancellor of the University’s Medical
Center should also transition smoothly to Robert Simari, the dean of the School of Medicine who’s been named interim vice chancellor. The provost’s office is also undergoing two internal shifts. Acting vice provost for diversity and equity Jennifer Hamer is stepping into the role permanently. Internal pick Christopher Brown, currently head of the environmental studies department, takes over as vice provost for faculty development just as his predecessor Mary Lee Hummert steps down.