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

Abstract

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.