The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 3 - 119

No Smoking Guns Here

number of participants and therefore cannot
be viewed as a representative sample of the
total number of public institutions with individuals in that position. Despite the small
number of participants, the representation was
significant. utah has the first public institution
to allow concealed carry and texas has a history
of statewide concealed carry laws. the perspectives of directors of residence life in these two
states shed insight that is counter to the dominant narrative of mayhem with campus-concealed carry in the living communities. finally,
this study was cross-sectional in design. future
exploration of the perspectives of residence life
staff could be cross-section as well as attitudes
being studied over time in a longitudinal study
would be beneficial.

ResULTs
three themes emerged from the data collected
from the five directors of residence life. interview findings demonstrate that directors of
residence life made sense of implementing
campus carry laws within residence hall contexts. Quotes from participants support how
designing policy is value-laden, understanding how the law came to be, and observing
how other institutions implement campus
carry policies.

Designing Policy is Value-Laden
Designing concealed carry policies for oncampus living communities is a value-laden
process. specifically, implementation is an
emotional and cultural experience for directors
of residence life. the policy-making process incorporated lots of emotion and stress because
the decisions directly influenced the staff
members that were engaging in the policy-

making process. for example, many residence
life staff live in the residence halls with the
students. as a result, all directors noted that
the live-in staff were more cautious and apprehensive about the policy than other student
affairs professionals that left at 5:00 p.m. and
returned to off-campus homes. resident assistants and other graduate students also strongly

 .  .  . the language we put out there
was if you become aware that
your roommate or suitemate has a
license to carry a concealed weapon
and you don't want to live with a
permit holder, come to housing and
let us know . We will move you .

voiced concerns, so through the internal policymaking process, directors had to make sense
from various constituents and their particular
concerns. since students and parents or guardians may come from any of the 50 states and
countries around the world, the idea that a gun
may be concealed in a residence hall room may
induce anxiety for students and their families
in addition to national news.
one director's comments reflected an understanding that language used about roommate situations could influence the ways in
which students perceived the residence life office's position on campus handgun carry. one
participant shared:
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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 3

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