In an open letter released Wednesday afternoon, President Gregory Geoffroy recommended to the Board of Regents that certified campus police officers be allowed to carry firearms.

“We’re eagerly awaiting the next step in this process,” said ISU Police Cmdr. Gene Deisinger.

The next step is to wait for the Board of Regents to discuss the matter and vote on it during its next meeting, this Tuesday.

“We don’t want to have premature discussions about arming our officers. We’re going to wait until the regents approve and outline the process,” Deisinger said.

Geoffroy said in his letter that the topic of arming campus officers has been in discussion for several years, and that the events that occurred on the Virginia Tech campus last spring moved up the importance of the issue.

“He made this decision based on all the input he received from other organizations, and some situations in the past where weapons were present during routine stops by police officers,” said John McCarroll, executive director for university relations.

The Government of the Student Body supported arming campus officers by a vote of 23-5, and the Faculty Senate supported the same decision, voting 38-27 in favor. Geoffroy also received a number of e-mails from individuals “expressing their views, and were largely in favor of the proposal,” according to the letter.

“Two priorities rise above all others in fulfilling our mission as Iowa’s land grant university. One priority is . ensuring that we provide the safest possible environment where that quest for knowledge can take place most effectively,” according to the document.

Some students gave different reactions to the arming of police on campus.

“I think that guns are unnecessary. If any situation got out of hand that required the use of firearms, the Ames police could be there,” said Rachael Hagen, junior in music.

However, some were in favor of the recommendation, agreeing that arming campus police would be beneficial.

“I think it would be a good thing. It could prevent situations like Virginia Tech from happening all over again,” said Ryan Kaufman, freshman in mechanical engineering.

To that end, other changes are in the works besides arming campus officers.

“Negotiations are underway with various companies to bring a mass emergency notification system onto campus,” McCarroll said.

In case of an emergency happening on campus, the system works by sending an alert message via phone, e-mail or text message, to any provided number or address.

“We obviously don’t have contact information for all students, so there would be a student input system in place. But we want to move forward with this system,” McCarroll said.

Plans are also being made for a voice-activated public address system across campus.