Guns allowed on campus leads prof to cancel office hours, declare ‘I no longer feel safe’: student

A University of Kansas student said a professor teaching a fall semester online class isn’t holding office hours over fears that guns are allowed on campus.

Victoria Snitsar, in her op-ed for The College Fix, said her “jaw dropped” when she read the syllabus for Eric Rath’s history class on Japan’s Samurai, which she said included two pages of “arguments against the Second Amendment” and criticism of “students who support the university’s concealed carry policy or take advantage of it.”

“With guns allowed on campus, I no longer feel safe having visitors in my office; so instead of in person office hours, I am available for consultation via email or Skype on the hours indicated above and by appointment,” Rath wrote in the syllabus. “Should you wish to meet in person, the appointment will be at a secure or public location of my choosing, but not my office. Please read the statement about concealed weapons at the end of the syllabus.”

What else does the professor say?

According to Snitsar — who added a screenshot of a syllabus page to her op-ed — Rath also noted, “I request that you not bring firearms to class or wherever I am present.”

More from Rath’s syllabus:

Although you may be entitled by law to carry a gun, I urge you not to do so. … I do not want to worry about whether you might react by pulling a gun on me, or whether you might have an improperly secured weapon in your belt or bag … I have seen students become uncontrollably angry because of something that has happened in the course — a disappointing grade, an allegation of academic misconduct, an uncomfortable topic, a controversial statement. If you do not carry a weapon, you cannot be tempted to use it in a moment of frustration.

What else did the op-ed say?

“As someone who is in the process of obtaining a concealed carry permit, I find my new professor’s anti-Second Amendment syllabus screed to be over-the-top and a predictor of the bias I can expect to receive in this class,” Snitsar said. “I am not interested in taking a class on the Samurai, Japan’s most prevalent warring class, from a professor who does not value citizens’ rights to protect themselves.”

Snitsar added that she might drop the class but still wondered if the professor “is aware crime on campus is down in the wake of the [campus carry] policy?” noting that “perhaps criminals intent on violence head to gun-free zones and tend to avoid places where they know people can defend themselves.”

The author also said she agrees with Rath’s insistence that those who carry guns “have the ethical responsibility to obtain the necessary training to do so in a safe manner.” Snitsar indicated she’s done so.

Rath on Friday declined to comment on Snitsar’s op-ed.