His departure became known after the university’s student newspaper, The Daily Texan, obtained a copy of a letter Hamermesh sent to UT President Gregory L. Fenves on Sunday.
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Fletcher acknowledged it is illegal to carry a firearm where they are not permitted, but speculated – admittedly without proof – that students brought their guns inside because their campuses already allowed concealed weapons outdoors. “But if someone has a [license to] carry and they know how to use it, it could save everyone’s life”.
“The Texas legislature stepped over the door, stepped into my classroom and into my office where I’m responsible for the education of the young people of Texas”, Moore said, “and they made it my business in a way that I just couldn’t ignore”.
A professor at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) is concerned that a recently enacted law allowing concealed carry in university buildings will “shut down dissent and free speech”, according to an interview with The Trace on October 5.
Hamermesh says he loves his students – his class has nearly 500 – but he feels he risks being shot at by an angry undergrad.
Lisa Moore, an English professor whose courses cover “not exactly light topics” including “feminism, abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, and birth control”, believes that having armed students in class will create an unsafe environment.
“There is simply no evidence to back up the professor’s fears”, Fletcher concluded.
Senate bill 11, passed this spring, expands the existing law to classrooms and other campus buildings. Fletcher is a retired police officer.
“I’d rather not see a gun on campus”, she said.
Instead of UT, Hamermesh plans to teach at the University of Sydney in Australia starting next year out of “self-protection”. “It’s going to make it more hard for Texas to compete in the market for faculty”.
“I think it is exactly the opposite”, Fletcher responded.
Hamermesh does not make clear in his resignation letter how a campus gun-free zone would prevent a disgruntled student from killing him.
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Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team.
