Lisa Watson

The Wyoming community colleges have been working together on a policy to handle no longer being, for the most part, gun free zones, in the wake of legislation that eliminates the bulk of them as of July 1.

A draft policy is being crafted that will be brought before the various community college boards, including in Powell, Northwest College President Lisa Watson told trustees at an April 22 board meeting in Meeteetse. 

“This is a bill that could be litigious and if eight different colleges treated eight different ways, then it could cause some challenges,” she said. “And so I had suggested to my peers that we think about putting together a task force and approach this bill as a group of eight.”

The group includes a representative from each of the state’s community colleges and they’ve been working with a lawyer who represents NWC and other colleges to put together a policy. 

Watson said the establishment of the University of Wyoming’s policy has been helpful, as she said what’s in it, and some of the questions and backlash from it, have led to some changes in the community college policy. 

“The plan here is we want the policy for all the colleges in theory to be the same or very close to the same, and yet we have eight boards,” Watson said, adding they understand each college’s final policy won’t be identical, but they should wind up similar. 

She said with interim legislative committees starting up, the group is already working to get on the agenda of the Joint Education Committee to be able to ask questions regarding how to work the policy in the new law. 

Gov. Mark Gordon allowed House Bill 172 to become law without his signature in February after it passed both sides of the Legislature by large margins, including with support from all of the Park County legislators. 

Gordon had vetoed a similar bill last year, but had cautioned schools and colleges to prepare for the likelihood of a law like it passing in the next year or so. 

The law that passed isn’t as concerning for colleges than it potentially could have been, as it allows only those ages 21 years old and up to carry concealed, and then only if they have a concealed carry license. In the past legislators had wanted it open to Constitutional Carry, which would’ve potentially opened it up to those ages 18 and up. 

Colleges have been working on determining what they can or can’t dictate under policy.

Watson said there are a few places the new law allows colleges to bar firearms from, including facilities for a student’s wellbeing. UW used that definition to include the counseling area. Watson said the community colleges were debating whether to do the same. 

“We promised all the presidents that it will go out as a draft by the end of [April], and so that we can get it into the board process,” she said. 

NWC trustee Tara Kuipers said it was good to see the community colleges work together.