They hope the Virginia Tech massacre shines new light on previously rejected proposals.
Brandeis University, Framingham State College and Suffolk University are among the remaining Massachusetts universities not arming its police with guns. Boston University, Northeastern, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts, all five University of Massachusetts campuses, and most colleges in the State College system have armed police.
According to the Boston Globe, a 1995 federal government survey of 581 four-year colleges found that 81 percent of police departments at public schools had armed officers and 34 percent of private ones did.
Proposals arming campus police have been rejected in the past because of the close proximity to local law enforcement. According to Brandeis spokesman Dennis Nealson, campus administrators have rejected such proposals because they felt outside law enforcement agencies had more experience and were better equipped to deal with crisis situation. In an attempt to prevent another incident such as Seung-Hui Cho’s 32-student killing rampage at Virginia Tech April 16, Brandeis plans to set up a committee to study the need for arms this summer.
Some supporters of arming campus police blame a fear of lawsuits stemming from something going wrong with an officer’s gun as a major hindrance to such proposals. The director of public safety at Tufts University told the Boston Globe no gun has been discharged except in training during his 18 years at the university.
