Campus Carry Law

Dear TWU Community,

Many of you have asked a number of questions about the recently passed state law allowing licensed individuals to carry concealed handguns on campus, so I would like to provide some clarification. Most importantly, the new legislation makes provisions for universities to designate zones that comply with the spirit of the law but also give them a degree of local control for the uniqueness of each campus. Within our legal framework, TWU will continue, as always, to provide the best possible environment that ensures the safety and security of our faculty, staff, students and visitors.

Some things to consider about the new campus carry law:

• It does not go into effect until Aug. 1, 2016, which gives us time to develop and implement plans for each of our campuses to comply with the new legislation.
• “Campus carry” is not the same as “open carry.” An individual must have a concealed handgun license (CHL) to legally carry a gun on any Texas public university campus. The full list of requirements can be found on the Texas Department of Public Safety's Concealed Handgun FAQ webpage.
• It allows public universities to designate certain areas of campus where guns will be prohibited.

I will convene a task force comprised of faculty, staff and students to collect data, perspectives, and develop recommendations. The group will submit its report to me by the end of December. Our collective recommendations and plan must then be reviewed in February and approved in June by our Board of Regents prior to implementation.

Throughout the next year and as we move into the implementation of this new law, we will post updates about this issue on the TWU Department of Public Safety's Campus Carry webpage.

We are committed to maintaining our safe campus communities in Denton, Dallas and Houston while providing the high-quality academic environment that TWU has so proudly offered for more than a century.

Respectfully,

Carine M. Feyten, Ph.D.
Chancellor/President
Texas Woman’s University
@TWUpres

"If you talk to a man in a language that he understands, that goes to his head. But if you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." (Nelson Mandela)