As UT prepares for campus carry, professor to leave 'out of self-protection'

University of Texas at El Paso professor David Smith-Soto hung this "gun free zone" sign outside his multimedia journalism classroom after Gov. Greg Abbott signed campus carry into law in June 2015. University of Texas at El Paso professor David Smith-Soto hung this "gun free zone" sign outside his multimedia journalism classroom after Gov. Greg Abbott signed campus carry into law in June 2015. Photo: David Smith-Soto Blog Photo: David Smith-Soto Blog Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close As UT prepares for campus carry, professor to leave 'out of self-protection' 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

A longtime economics professor at the University of Texas at Austin is leaving the school, saying the state's new campus carry law -- which makes it legal for some Texans to carry concealed handguns into college classrooms beginning next August -- has "substantially enhanced" the chances of a shooting.

"With a huge group of students my perception is that the risk that a disgruntled student might bring a gun into the classroom and start shooting at me has been substantially enhanced by the concealed-carry law," economics professor emeritus Daniel Hamermesh, who has been at UT since the mid-90s, wrote in a letter announcing his departure. "Out of self-protection I have chosen to spend part of next Fall at the University of Sydney, where, among other things, this risk seems lower."

Hamermesh's decision was first reported by the UT student newspaper, the Daily Texan.

The new law gives school leaders some leeway to determine what, if any, parts of campus should be gun-free zones. Educators across the state are debating where firearms should be allowed.

Professors have been outspoken on the issue, urging university leaders to keep classrooms -- where debates over touchy subjects from religion to sexuality quickly can grow heated -- free from guns.

Nearly 170 faculty members at the state's flagship university in Austin have signed a petition opposing the law. The list, which includes 168 names from 30 departments and programs, was released Thursday, the same day that dozens on both sides of the debate rallied at the system flagship.

"The classroom in particular is a special space -- a space that has extra reasons for us to keep it a safe space," Joan Neuberger, a history professor at UT Austin, told the Chronicle last week. "In order to teach them, we need to encourage them to say what they need to say. People get very heated. ... If I know there's a possibility that someone has a gun in the classroom, I'm not going to hold those same discussions. I'm not going to encourage students to speak openly."

David Smith-Soto, a senior lecturer of multimedia journalism at UT El Paso, drew attention last month when he posted a "no-guns" sign outside his classroom.

"The minute that the governor signed that legislation, I put up my sign outside the door," Smith-Soto told the Chronicle of Higher Education. "Guns belong wherever they belong, but they don't belong in my classroom - or anybody's classroom, for that matter."

The outrage expressed by professors in Texas could suggest that the new law might make it more difficult to attract faculty, Hamermesh said.

"It puts UT in a difficult position recruiting faculty and I think that's the worst thing about it," he said. "It hurts public higher education in the state of Texas."