No Smoking Guns Here: Residence Life Directors' Perspectives on Concealed Carry in On-Campus Living Communities

Abstract

The role of student affairs educators is to ensure that students not only obtain an educational experience, but also that out-of-classroom experiences contribute to holistic development. In particular, student affairs professionals often coordinate residential living, student activities, and advising programs. These programmatic offerings need to account for the diversifying student body and respond to shifting political landscapes. Student affairs practitioners face daily dilemmas that require decisions grounded in multicultural competent critical thinking and acute awareness (Pope, Reynolds, & Mueller, 2004; Watt, 2015). An area engendering more attention is the role of concealed carry weapons on college campuses. The emergence of gun violence within college and university settings beginning in 2007 with the Virginia Tech shootings launched myriad discussions about prevention and accountability among campus leadership, concerned citizens, and state legislatures. Within student affairs, conversations about students' safety always have been a priority, so addressing gun violence on campus moved higher on the discussion list. [Discussion questions developed by Alyse Gray Parker.]