Local News | CU elects not to ban concealed carry, but will follow state law
Jun. 21—The University of Colorado decided on Friday to keep its policy that allowed concealed carry on campus after considering banning it for roughly two months.
The existing policy will stay in place, but CU added about two sentences acknowledging that the university will comply with all state laws on the matter. The revision was proposed following the passage of a state law in May that bans people with permits from concealing and carrying weapons in "sensitive spaces" including universities.
State law supersedes any university policy, and the concealed carry ban will go into effect at all colleges in Colorado, including CU campuses, on July 1.
The University of Colorado Board of Regents, the elected board that oversees the CU System, approved the policy amendment with a 5-4 vote as proposed by Regent Nolbert Chavez.
"The Legislature took action already and that, you think, would be clear enough but it hasn't been," Chavez said.
"The emails that I've received and probably most of us have received are really centered around whether we're choosing or will choose to follow state law. My amendment clarifies that we have to follow state law, we don't have a choice to follow state law."
The policy amendment acknowledges that CU's original policy allowing concealed carry stays in place but is ultimately driven by state law. As long as the state law is intact, concealed carry will be banned at CU. If the law is repealed, concealed carry on campus would again be allowed.
Chavez proposed the policy amendment on Friday as an alternative to the resolution brought to the Board by Regent Wanda James in April. James proposed changing CU's policy to ban concealed carry regardless of state law.
"This policy, in how I would like to see it changed, it would be difficult for all of the regents to come together to vote to be able to make a change," James said, adding, "But in the discussions with other regents on the Board I believe moving to Regent Chavez's amendment satisfies all the things we want to accomplish as a board and I hope that it satisfies a lot of what the public wants to see, quite frankly, on both sides of the table."
Although the statewide ban on concealed carry in higher education will go into effect regardless, it's still up to the regents to vote how they wish on any policy changes.
Regent Frank McNulty said he appreciates the work his colleagues put into the policy revisions but voted no.
"I didn't support the change that was made in the Legislature and I'm not going to support the change as offered here today," he said.
Regent Ken Montera, who voted no, said a no vote on this policy change isn't a reflection of not supporting state law.
"I want to make it clear that I don't think there's a member of this Board that doesn't put student safety first on every campus that we have, and the letters that we've been getting talking about us superseding state law are completely inaccurate," Montera said.
"I want to make sure we're very clear that this Board and myself support state law and we'll support it fully as legislation is passed for our campuses and for the safety of our students."
Regent Lesley Smith said she would've liked to see CU have its own policy banning concealed carry, citing the original policy proposal from James.
"I'm not going to vote against (Chavez's amendment), but I do feel it would be prudent for us to have our own policy," Smith said. "Of course, we always follow the law, that's always the case, but I would prefer the original policy as written. But I will vote for this."
James said the conversation about concealed carry will be ongoing.
"I'm hoping we can get to a point of having more open conversations not just about this amendment but about anything else that comes in front of this Board," she said, adding, "We know that there is going to be continued discussion on how we move forward as this policy moves through the Legislature and moves through the state of Colorado."
