WOU Suspends Student For Legal Concealed Carry
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009by CJ Ciaramella
Western Oregon University* has suspended a student for having a handgun on campus, even though his concealed handgun license legally permits him to carry a firearm into almost any public building in the state. Showing a clear disregard for the law, WOU proceeded to punish the student even after the criminal charges against him were dropped.
Jeffrey Maxwell, who is also a former Marine, was first arrested by Monmouth police on Jan. 28 for possessing a firearm on campus, but the charges were later dropped by the county DA, who said:”I believe the Monmouth Police Department issued the citation in good faith and that there was an arguable violation. However, a careful reading of the statute and the facts led me to conclude the charge was not in the best interest of justice.”
You see, Oregon state law prohibits firearms in public buildings, but with the explicit exception of those with concealed handgun licenses. Nevertheless, WOU went ahead and punished Maxwell anyway, suspending him and sentencing him to:
“a psychological evaluation stating he is not a threat to himself of others” and a mandatory “ten page paper” ” with references, “citing, but not limited to:
1) the importance of following the law, even through civil disobedience.
2) the importance of accepting responsibility for one’s actions
3) and recognizing the impact possession of weapons on college campuses has on others.”
Unfortunately, WOU’s deplorable actions are par for the course in Oregon. Oregon universities have been ignoring, if not outright flouting, this law for years. University conduct codes are not above state or federal law, no matter how much administrators wish it so. Thankfully, the Oregon Firearms Federation has taken on Maxwell’s case, and the Oregon University System’s misguided policies will soon be stricken down.
For more on the issue, check out Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a great group pushing for students’ Second Amendment rights.
*This is the second time I’ve had to write about Western Oregon University recently. The first time was when WOU punished a student journalist and his newspaper adviser for revealing a serious privacy flaw in its computer systems. Way to go, WOU. Way to go.
tagged under: campus.concealed carry.Oregon.second amendment.students for concealed carry.Western Oregon UniversityABOUT THIS AUTHOR
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One Comment
subscribe comments feedBob Benitez
March 18th, 2009
Boy, would I love to write a paper for the University. I would emphasize that following the law was doubly important for those in power, especially universities; that the University should take responsibility for its action and discipline those responsible for violating my rights; and realizing that the impact on others would be to make them aware that state organizations have an obligation to know and follow their own laws.
Furthermore, I would point out that those who took the illegal action of suspension should be checked for mental instabilities as a condition of continued employment at the University in as much as they seem to have a reticence for the Constitution and State law. During my psychiatric examination I would even raise that issue and ask for psychiatric reviews of those who want to persecute me for abiding by the law and for perhaps having been a Marine who defended my country. I might even include in the paper references to Hitler’s Nazi Germany and communist USSR and China about their gun repression efforts and the demise of freedom in those countries. But I guess such a paper and response during an evaluation would earn an F and result in expulsion for being politically incorrect.