By Savannah Jones and Payton Mandell, The Daily Athenaeum
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For first-time freshmen, moving into a new dorm can be filled with a variety of worries. Cayden Ruleau’s is the gun safe housed in his new home, Summit Hall.
“I don’t know where it is, but it is kind of weird that other students are allowed to carry guns around me,” he said.
“It just makes me feel a little uneasy.”
These weapon storage lockers, along with those in Brooke Tower, are some of the many safety precautions taken by the University in light of the Campus Self-Defense Act, also known as campus carry.
As of July 1, the law allows students with concealed carry permits to possess pistols or revolvers in some areas of campus, sparking mixed reactions from students, families and community members.
When he found out the safe would be housed in Summit Hall, Ruleau said he did not consider switching dorms but that the thought of his peers potentially having weapons remains in the back of his mind.
As of Aug. 19, only two requests for gun storage lockers on WVU’s Morgantown Campus have been submitted, both for Brooke Tower, according to Shauna Johnson, director of WVU News Communications, in an email to The Daily Athenaeum.
Michael Solomon is a sophomore resident assistant at Summit Hall. As a student, he said the thought of students having guns on campus concerns him. As an RA, he said working in the same building as a gun safe adds to his anxiety.
“I don’t want to say it’s scary, but it’s a little more alarming, just because we’re in close proximity to where the actual guns are going to be,” he said.
Students on campus are not required to undergo any training regarding campus carry, unlike RAs, who were instructed to call the University Police Department or 911 in the event of a situation that violates campus carry guidelines, according to Solomon.
