University Of Colorado Provides Safe Zones For Thugs And Rapists

While the University of Colorado System may disagree with that headline, this is essentially what they have just done with their new housing policy. The University is using housing contracts to segregate those with concealed carry permits from those without permits.

From the Denver Post:

The University of Colorado Boulder and University of Colorado Colorado Springs are amending their student housing contracts, segregating students who possess a valid concealed-carry permit.

The university said Thursday morning that both campuses will establish a residential area for residents over age 21 with a permit. In other residential areas, students will not be permitted to carry a concealed weapon, the new policy states.

The new housing policy does two things. First, it seeks to use contract law to negate the ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court which stated that the University of Colorado did not have the power to ban concealed carry on campus. Second, and more insidiously, it points out to thugs, rapists, and other criminals areas on campus where they will be relatively safe. That is, by creating obvious gun-free zones, the University System has put a big red target on the back of all those students living in traditional undergraduate student housing.

The University of Colorado-Boulder is a bit more explicit about how they plan to segregate students.

The University of Colorado Boulder today announced it is amending housing contracts to ask students who live in undergraduate residence halls and hold a Colorado concealed carry permit, or CCP, to forgo bringing a handgun to campus. The campus also will accommodate those who hold a CCP in a graduate student housing complex off the main campus, provided the permit holders store their weapon in a safe within their dwelling when they are not carrying it.

The university also is asking residence advisers and faculty who live in university housing to sign the same housing agreement as a condition of their residence in these facilities.

According to the University's "analysis", only 0.6% of faculty, staff, and students possess a Colorado Concealed Carry Permit as if this makes a difference. About the only reasonable thing the University does do is allow students who are in undergraduate student housing and who obtain a permit to be let out of their housing contract without a penalty.

Checking the housing contract, it doesn't seem to have been amended to reflect the new university policy. It refers on to the residence hall weapon policy and makes no mention of the above exception for getting out of the contract without a penalty. The residence hall weapon policy can be found here. It still states that "Firearms, explosives, ammunition, and dangerous weapons or materials are not permitted within or upon the grounds, buildings, residence halls, or any other facilities of the university." This would seem at odds with the Colorado Supreme Court ruling.

One last note on the Boulder campus' weapon policy, they ban squirt guns and Nerf guns as "dangerous weapons". I would wager that fewer people will be injured on the Boulder campus with either a squirt gun or a Nerf gun than will be hurt by their explicit demarcation of locations where one can and cannot live while possessing a concealed carry permit.

UPDATE: The student newspaper at the University of Colorado-Boulder, the Daily Camera, interviewed attorney Jim Manley of the Mountain States Legal Foundation about the new policy. Jim won the Colorado Supreme Court case which is forcing the university to allow concealed carry on campus. He is also a 2008 graduate of the University of Colorado Law School.

The new rules announced Thursday are troubling to James Manley, the attorney from the Mountain States Legal Foundation, who represented the student gun-rights group that brought the original lawsuit against CU's gun ban.

"We're going to take a hard look at the language, and if it conflicts with the concealed-carry act ruling of the Supreme Court, all options are open to us, including continuing the litigation that CU lost in March," Manley said.