The student Public Safety Advisory Group has always held a firm stance against the introduction of Tasers into the Department of Public Safety – but after it learned there was no rule that prevented students from carrying Tasers on campus, PSAG had another resolution to write.
The University’s Student Conduct Code prohibits “possession, use, or threatened use of a weapon, ammunition, or any object or substance used as a weapon on University Premises or at a University Sponsored Activity unless expressly authorized by law or University Policy.”
Because the code does not define the word “weapon” or elaborate on the rule any further, PSAG passed a resolution Monday that suggested the University change the rule so that it specifically defines the word “weapon” and includes Tasers in the definition.
“It is PSAG’s desire and goal that the possession or use of Tasers on the University of Oregon campus be prohibited in the same way firearms and other weapons currently are,” read a draft of the resolution.
PSAG’s decision to highlight the issue “came about because of (DPS) Director (Kevin) Williams and the University realizing that there was a discrepancy, and it wasn’t very fair,” said ASUO President Emily McLain, an ex officio of PSAG. “It originated in University administration.”
“DPS Director Kevin Williams made a valid point that if DPS is going to be prohibited from having them, that students ought to be prohibited as well,” Jim Cleavenger, ASUO graduate student representative for PSAG, said in an e-mail.
Students who own Tasers may be a minority, but they do exist. A female student who wished to remain anonymous said she owns a Taser and sometimes carries it with her when she is on campus alone late at night.
She said she was worried about her safety after her friend Brianna Dennison was abducted in Reno, Nev. and found dead weeks later in a field.
“My boyfriend was really nervous because I’m always there really late at night,” she said. “He ended up buying a Taser from some company online.”
The Taser is very small and looks like a cell phone, she said. “You can carry it around, put it in your pocket, hook it on a belt buckle or something.”
She said she has never used the Taser and never plans on using it unless she needs to, but carrying it gives her a “sense of security.”
However, University administration interprets the existing Student Conduct Code differently, even before the latest PSAG resolution.
“The University’s official position is that students are not allowed to use or possess Tasers on campus on University owned or controlled property,” University spokeswoman Julie Brown said.
The Student Conduct and Community Standards Committee also has a slightly different interpretation.
Chicora Martin, director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Education and Support Services program and assistant director of the Office of Student Life, said there are no rules banning weapons like Tasers at all times because each situation involving weapons is different.
“A big part of the educational philosophy is that we look at each case individually,” Martin said. “There is no ‘always’ in any policy.”
Although specific weapons are not listed in the conduct code, there is a list of prohibited items in the Student Housing Contract, and Tasers are “not on the list,” Cleavenger said.
Still, the resolution is not PSAG’s top priority.
“We’re more concerned about Tasers being in the hands of DPS,” McLain said.
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