Students Face Expulsion for Using Gun to Ward Off Intruder

[zxcvbob]

In legal disputes, unless a term is defined, or is a term of art, words are given their usual and customary meaning.  Is 'campus' defined in the student handbook?  If not, the usual and customary definition of a 'campus' is merely defined as the buildings or grounds of a school or college.  That definition is not limited to a circumscribed bounded area, or a collection of buildings only in one place.  With some justification, the University argues that if it owns or or controls a piece of property, it is part of the University campus.  The University clearly considers as it such insofar as their campus security enforces University regulations there.

http://www.gonzaga.edu/About/CampusMap/default.asp is the campus map at Gonzaga.  Can you define the campus there?

Page 11, under section Alcoholic beverages in University owned residential facilities, uses the phrase "University owned off-campus apartments".  So those facilities are *not* on campus, and the word campus is not all-inclusive.

[MillCreek]

You are getting there, but you need to keep reading.  Be sure to read pages 19-20 (Weapons policy and University retains right to search persons or property on University property),  28 (policies apply to all buildings operated by the Office of Housing and Residence Life), pages 28-30 (Entry, Search and Confiscation), page 34 (Grounds maintenance for Gonzaga owned off campus residential properties), page 70 (jurisdiction), and pages 71-72 (prohibited conduct). 

Then think about how confident you are in your argument that the possession of weapons in a University on or off campus residential facility owned or operated by the Housing Office is permitted under the student code of conduct.  Note that your citation as to alcohol use in University-owned off campus residential apartments makes the case that the University can regulate conduct in those properties owned by the University that are 'off-campus'.

When you read the handbook, it is clear that the University considers the student code of conduct to apply to all students, on and off campus, in facilities owned or operated by the University.  Now, if these students were living on the economy, in an apartment or house not owned or operated by the University's housing office, I think the University would not have much of a leg to stand on in terms of regulating legal conduct.  But the students were living in student housing and are therefore subject to the rules of student housing.  If Gonzaga was owned by the LDS and wanted to regulate the possession of caffeine in University owned or operated facilities, they would have a right to do so.  Just as Gonzaga (and probably other schools) chooses to do with alcohol and firearms.  Or for that matter the military for personnel residing in base housing.

[Brad Johnson]

zxcv,

Universities generally consider any property owned by them to be part of "the campus".  Properties not directly connected to the main academic campus will often be referred to as a "remote campus" even if it does not have a primarily academic function.  Sometimes the reference is simplified even further, using the term "facility" or "property", but they are still considered campus grounds.

...plus everything Millcreek said.

Brad

[Brad Johnson]

And the plot thickens. According to CNN, the property is not owned by the university.  Rather, it is on a perpetual lease to them and they are subletting to students.  It's not an unusual situation, and I don't think it will change the university's standing with regards to being able to dictate lease terms, but it will be interesting to see if it throws a big booger in the university's soup bowl.

Brad