“A University of Texas dean said Thursday he’s leaving the school to pursue a different job in large part because of the new Texas law that will allow concealed firearms in public college classrooms,” foxnews.com reports. “Fritz Steiner, dean of the Texas School of Architecture, [above] was named dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. He said he wouldn’t have considered leaving if not for the new law, which takes effect prior to the start of the fall semester Aug. 1. ‘I thought I would be responsible for enforcing a law I don’t believe in,’ Steiner said.” Needless to say, Dean Steiner thought wrong. He wasn’t in charge of “enforcing” campus carry. He was in charge of running UT Architecture Department. Ready for more derp? Here ya go . . .
Steiner said he’s not anti-guns, but doesn’t want them in the halls of higher education. Texas faculty have worried allowing guns could have a chilling effect on academic freedom and frank discussions in classrooms.
“I grew up hunting. My father was a Marine and a policeman. I’m not a stranger to firearms in any way,” Steiner said. “I grew up believing there was an appropriate place for guns and it was not in a place of higher education and higher learning.” . . .
[University of Texas President Greg] Fenves has said allowing guns on campus will make it harder to recruit and retain top faculty and students. Steiner’s departure would be the most immediate high-profile result of that prediction.
“I can report that it’s already part of the conversation when I was trying to recruit and retain faculty and recruit graduate students,” Steiner said of the campus carry law. “It’s certainly on the minds of many faculty and students.”
Here’s an idea: campus carry’s introduction into the Texas university system will trigger beneficial unintended consequences, like helping to weed out intellectual weaklings like Dean Steiner and other educators unfamiliar with the freedoms protected by the United States Constitution. Just a thought.