Campus Carry at UGA -- NEW Stuff

UGA President Jere Morehead sent an email out earlier today with some details on how the university will handle "campus carry." You can read the text of the email here. Below I discuss a few of the more interesting aspects to this.

Here's an interesting one on exclusions from where you can carry a weapon. I've boldfaced a key part.

Rooms and other spaces during the times when they are being used for classes in which high school students are enrolled, whether through dual enrollment and programs such as Move On When Ready or through college and career academies or other specialized programs such as Early College. License-holders who want to carry handguns to class will need to visit the institution’s registrar or other designated employee, who after verifying their enrollment status will tell them which of their classes, if any, have high school students enrolled. Institutions shall not, however, keep any listing of those who inquire.  (Note also that the names of enrolled high school students may not be revealed in accordance with applicable privacy laws.) It is the responsibility of license-holders to seek out this information and make themselves aware of which classrooms fall within this exception.

So if you're a student and packing, you're obligated to make sure your particular class at that particular time in that particular room is available for carrying a weapon. Lemme explain. We have a lot of high school students taking class on campus, and by a lot I mean only about 30 or so a semester, but they're sprinkled across campus and it's possible that big intro class you're taking as a UGA student also have a high school student -- though we as faculty do not know who they are. In other words, campus carriers, check with this list. 

Here's another exception for you sports fans:

Buildings and property used for athletic sporting events. This exception includes stadiums, gymnasiums and similar facilities in which intercollegiate games are staged (but does not extend to so-called “tailgating” areas where fans may congregate outside the gates of the sports facility). It does not extend to student recreation centers and similar facilities that are not used for intercollegiate games.

So this answer a question that had been bouncing around, would UGA allow concealed carry at football Saturday tailgates. Apparently so. The Ramsey Center, I'd think, is not a place you can carry even though it's a student rec center, mainly because it's used for swimming, diving, volleyball, and maybe some other sports.

See the link above to the full text for more info.

NEW

Just hit me that the ability of a student with a conceal permit asking if a classroom is open to carrying does not list faculty. If I have a concealed weapon permit, can I also ask and learn if there's a high school student in that (my) classroom and I can't carry either? It'll be interesting to see if UGA alters its employee rules to allow us to carry. Last I looked, we could not bring any weapon to campus.