Armed Guards on 'Peace' Campuses Debated

Shooting rampages at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University left almost 40 people dead and prompted intense discussion on college campuses nationwide on how best to protect students and staff.

In the wake of those massacres, several colleges that previously relied on unarmed security staff -- Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., is one -- have taken steps to allow armed guards on campus. Many colleges already do.

But at schools affiliated with the historic "peace churches" -- the Brethren, Mennonites and Quakers -- the question of guns on campus has prompted deep levels of soul-searching on how to simultaneously embrace nonviolence and keep students and staff safe.

Trustees at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., which traces its roots to the Church of the Brethren, voted in April to authorize security to carry guns on the campus that's home to 1,460 students. It's the second Brethren-related school to adopt armed guards; five others have not.

"Obviously that [Brethren] legacy was in our minds, but we were certainly more cognizant of the needs of students and of parents who wanted to know if their children were going to be safe," said Juniata spokesman John Wall, a member of a review group that recommended arming school security.

The decision to employ armed guards was not an easy or swift one. Discussions were held with students and faculty. Juniata's Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, one of the oldest such programs in the country, asked college trustees to take more time to study the issue.

Andrew Murray, the center's outgoing director, said he and others felt it was important to offer an alternative philosophy of security that didn't rely on guns as a first response.

"I'm saddened by the decision because I think it's simply an assimilation to a culture which makes presumptions about guns and security which have no basis whatsoever in fact," he said.

The theological imperative to make peace was one of several factors considered in discussions on peace-church campuses. Some institutions looked closely at the nature of their relationship to the peace church. Did the church own the school? How did its values inform the culture of the school?

Fewer than 10 percent of the 2,700 students who attend Quaker-related Guilford College are members of the Religious Society of Friends, but "it's a huge part of our culture and identity," said Sara Butner, associate director of communications and marketing for the Greensboro, N.C., school.

Butner said the question of armed guards didn't come up because the school enjoys adequate local police support. "I don't see us getting to the point where we would have sworn officers," she said.

Other schools also cited reliance on local law enforcement. "We have a good working relationship with the local police department," said Richard Aguirre, director of public relations at Goshen College in Goshen, Ind., a Mennonite-owned campus of 1,000 students.