Oregon Public Universities try ways to get around court ruling

Oregon joins Mississippi, Wisconsin, Utah, and Colorado as states that say people can carry concealed handguns on university property. Unfortunately, the universities are trying to do what they can to negate this ability. From the Register Guard:

The Oregon University System on Tuesday said it has decided not to challenge an appeals court decision that struck down a rule barring people from bringing guns onto state university campuses.

The September ruling means people with a concealed weapons permit are allowed to bring firearms onto university campuses. The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that only the state Legislature has the authority to set rules governing concealed weapons.

But university system officials said on Tuesday they will look at using other rulemaking authority to limit firearms on university grounds and buildings.

Although the system can’t set broad rules barring firearms, officials believe individual campuses can include a firearms ban in other forms that would bar most, but not all, guns on campus.

For example, the fine print on tickets to many sporting events often includes language that essentially requires the purchaser to agree not to bring firearms into a stadium or university property as a condition of buying the ticket. Most universities also include a firearms ban in the contracts students sign in order to live in campus residence halls.

“Those are exactly the kinds of things we will be considering,” said Di Saunders, communications director for the system.

Earlier, in the wake of a similar court ruling affecting Oregon school districts, some districts have barred their employees, as a condition of employment, from carrying guns on school property. That type of rule also could be adopted by universities, Saunders said, noting that the appeals court upheld such employment-related rules.

Such rules conceivably could be extended to students as well. Universities also might impose rules prohibiting people who use or rent universities facilities from allowing people to carry guns, and a similar requirement could be written into contract with companies that provide services on campus. . . .