Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? Dilemmas of Student and Academic Services Professionals in a Campus Carry State

Somers, Patrícia; Fry, Jessica J.; Jones, Ashley; Newton, Angela

doi:10.1353/csj.2020.0005

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The findings across the three analyses from this study ( t -tests, factor analysis, and analysis of open-ended questions) reflected closely the elements of the theoretical framework we proposed (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Maslow, 1943, 1954). Moreover, the findings are also consistent with our previous research (Somers et al, 2017, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…As decades of research has found, women have been historically underrepresented among college faculty members (Somers et al, 2017, 2020). Results of this study strongly suggest that women faculty members may feel less safe performing their job duties, including managing classrooms or students with guns, possibly producing a marginalizing effect against these women.…”

Section: Discussion Of Implications For Campus Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In previous work (Somers & Phelps, 2018; Somers & Valentine, 2020; Somers et al, 2017, 2020), the research team performed interviews with university faculty and staff about campus carry using self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci & Ryan, 2000). From the three factors of SDT (competence, autonomy, and relatedness), the team discovered several themes.…”

Section: Review Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“I Do Not Speak as Freely”: Gendered Views on Campus Carry at a Research University

Somers

Gao

Taylor

2021

Education and Urban Society

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As campus carry policies are implemented at colleges and universities across the country, the concern for the safety of students, faculty members, and campus community members has heightened. In the state of Texas, broad sweeping campus carry policies were recently enacted by Texas State Legislature that allows individuals to conceal carry firearms within educational spaces on campus. Within these educational spaces, faculty members are often relied upon to deliver educational content without having their Second Amendment speech rights chilled by the prospect of loaded firearms within a classroom. Given this tension, this study fills an important gap in the research and explains how faculty members view campus carry as it relates to their personal safety and professional work. This study employed a mixed methods design (survey and qualitative) to expound upon the attitudes toward campus carry of 226 faculty and staff members working in a large research-intensive university within the state of Texas. Results suggest strong gender differences between how faculty members view campus carry policies and their safety on campus, with women often reporting feeling less safe and less able to perform their job duties under the pressure and anxiety of campus carry policies. Ultimately, this study’s results imply that women faculty members may more less safe, more marginalized, and further victimized by campus carry laws than men faculty members, transgressing gender equity progress in the professoriate, as women have been traditionally underrepresented on college faculties.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussion Of Implications For Campus Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“I Do Not Speak as Freely”: Gendered Views on Campus Carry at a Research University

Somers

Gao

Taylor

2021

Education and Urban Society

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“…At the institutional level, FoC are working in an environment where they have greater awareness of their physical surroundings, as well as heightened surveillance and anxiety. Other studies on Texas campus carry have also shown increased fear and anxiety, as well as loss of autonomy for women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning) and others; LGBTQ+ faculty and staff (Somers et al, 2017(Somers et al, , 2020. Laws like campus carry are then protecting white safety interests (i.e., white men being able to carry a handgun) by intimidating minoritized communities from challenging whiteness and the status quo.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As more states consider campus carry legislation, it is important to recognize how the vested white interests of PWIs and the state are being upheld, especially within a society where FoC are receiving death threats for speaking out on issues of race, racism, and white supremacy (Flaherty, 2017b; Mason, 2017). Though some qualitative studies on campus carry have explored the experiences of faculty and staff (Drew, 2017; Somers et al, 2020) and women faculty (Somers et al, 2017), the experiences of People of Color have yet to be the focus. This study adds to the literature by using CRT to validate the racialized experiences of FoC while exposing campus carry as an institutional policy utilized to protect white interests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surviving campus carry: A CRT analysis of faculty of color at a Texas public PWI.

Hernández¹

2023

Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

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Throughout history, guns have been used as tools for social control to instill terror within minoritized communities. Campus carry is a current gun law that now allows licensed concealed handgun holders to carry on public college campuses in 11 U.S. states, including Texas (National Conference of State Legislatures [NCSL], 2018). This qualitative study explored how Faculty of Color (FoC) made meaning of their work lives and coped with campus carry at a Texas public predominately White institution (PWI). Utilizing Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a framework, this study centralizes the voices of FoC to expose how the psychological benefits of feeling safe and not living in fear are attached to whiteness and protected by campus carry policies. Through individual interviews, findings revealed FoC were able to survive with campus carry through: (a) Behavioral Changes to Feel Safe, (b) Heightened Surveillance and Anxiety, and (c) Strength and Resiliency. These findings illuminate how PWIs are able to protect white interests and forgo the responsibility to create a safe work environment for FoC. With an increase in the number of racially motivated hate crimes on U.S. college campuses, this study problematizes campus carry policies as a way for PWIs to uphold racist structures and processes where minoritized communities like FoC are left feeling unsafe.

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Trigger Warnings: From Sword Fights to Campus Carry in Higher Education

Somers

Taylor

Soucy

2022

Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research

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Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? Dilemmas of Student and Academic Services Professionals in a Campus Carry State

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

“I Do Not Speak as Freely”: Gendered Views on Campus Carry at a Research University

“I Do Not Speak as Freely”: Gendered Views on Campus Carry at a Research University

Surviving campus carry: A CRT analysis of faculty of color at a Texas public PWI.

Trigger Warnings: From Sword Fights to Campus Carry in Higher Education

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