With the Faculty Senate approving the arming of campus police and the Board of Regents meeting only a week away, ISU Police is hoping for a change in policy allowing campus police to carry firearms.

The Faculty Senate approved the proposal at a meeting in the Sun Room of Memorial Union Tuesday afternoon. The proposal passed on a vote of 38-27.

President Geoffroy will be making a recommendation on the issue Wednesday to present to the Board of Regents.

Iowa State is the only school within the Big 12 Conference, as well as the Land Grant 11, with unarmed campus police.

According to an FBI Uniform Crime Report released in September 2006, Iowa State had more violent crimes reported than five major universities with comparable enrollment, including the University of Iowa and Virginia Tech.

The statistics, released seven months before the Virginia Tech shootings, reveal that Iowa State had 13 violent crimes reported in 2005 while Iowa reported 12. Virginia Tech only listed four.

Other schools with comparable enrollments included Kansas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma, all with fewer than 10 violent crimes reported.

According to the report, a violent crime is defined by involving force or threat of force and includes murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

The statistics also revealed that Iowa State reported some of the highest property crimes in relation to universities of comparable enrollment. The majority of property crimes reported were larceny.

Texas Tech had 362 reported incidents of property crime while Iowa State listed 309, with Iowa and Virginia Tech reporting 271 and 256 respectively.

ISU Police Cmdr. Gene Deisinger said crime statistics are not good indicators of the necessity of armed police. While crime is not necessarily increasing on campus, Deisinger said, there is a change in how people respond to police authority and an increase in the use of weapons.

“Crime data is a misplaced focus,” Deisinger said. “It’s not about changes in how often crimes occur; it’s more about the changing dynamics.”

Deisinger also said that there is a “misplaced notion” in society that arming officers will prevent crime.

“It provides opportunities to limit the injuries and deaths associated with incidents,” he said.

Deisinger and Jerry Stewart, director of public safety, both spoke at the Faculty Senate meeting Tuesday afternoon. Both discussed concerns about the dwindling number of police officers who are willing to take jobs on the ISU campus when learning they will be unarmed.

Ricardo Rosenbusch, professor of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine, said if hiring new officers is an issue, then we should see them leave and have only officers proud to serve Iowa State’s campus.

“If it means losing one police officer every four or five years, I’m willing to pay that price,” he said.

Deisinger has said that both Iowa State and Iowa were the only two major universities without an armed police force. He also said the push for arming ISU Police is not a new idea.

“This proposal is not in reaction to Virginia Tech,” Deisinger said. “Portions of the most recent proposal were written over a year ago. It precedes that incident by a long time.”

Stewart reinforced Deisinger’s statement at the senate meeting. Stewart said proposals dealing with the issue were “underway almost a year ago.” He also mentioned campus police were not always unarmed, and the policy had only been changed in 1969.

Although ISU Police has been advocating armed officers since well before the shootings at Virginia Tech, the increased focus on campus security is a reaction from both Gov. Chet Culver and the Board of Regents.

“The timing is both unfortunate and appropriate,” Deisinger said.

Rosenbusch was very much against the arming of ISU Police for political reasons and the issue of time constraints.

“I think we should not have been pressured to take a vote. We should have had more time to discuss,” he said.

Rosenbusch also made a very powerful statement at the meeting, going as far to say that many faculty would protect their students’ lives before their own; much like the Virginia Tech professor who took two bullets while protecting his students.

“I would,” he said. “I don’t know how many others would. We’re here to help and protect the students, much like my own children.”

ISU Police is currently under a provisional arming policy. With or without guns, Deisinger still believes Iowa State is a “very safe community.”

“Incidents like Virginia Tech, while horrific, are phenomenally rare,” he said. “It’s unlikely to happen anywhere, but they clearly happened somewhere. The community needs to be prepared.”