This is why I doubt we will ever see concealed carry here at my school.
Funny thing is this school is located in Arkansas (which is usually pretty gun friendly).
from
www.couriernews.com (you have to go to the archives and search to see the story).
Here is the story from the "local" paper.
Story date: Feb. 21, 2008
Student PLAY shut down amid concerns
By Janie Ginocchio
and Mary Kincy Benefield
[email protected],
[email protected]
The cast and crew of Arkansas Tech University’s production of the Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman PLAY “Assassins” opened, sans props, Wednesday night to an audience consisting solely of participants’ family members.
A woman who identified herself only as a university instructor called Wednesday night’s performance a “final exam,” before shutting a stage door to reporters.
University officials announced Monday the PLAY, which portrays scenes of violence, was being “postponed until an undetermined future date” in view of “recent tragic events” on other campuses around the United States.
Ken Futterer, an assistant professor of music at the university who served as musical director for the production, in speaking to a reporter outside ATU’s Techionery on Wednesday evening, called the event a “final rehearsal” that would provide students with the opportunity to create an “archived copy” of their efforts on the project — albeit without the prop guns. The props are considered such an integral part of the PLAY Futterer said the theater department was contractually forbidden from performing the PLAY without them.
A witness told The Courier wooden prop guns, presumably intended for use in the production, were sawed in half and disposed of in the hours before Wednesday’s rehearsal.
When reached by telephone Wednesday night, ATU Assistant to the President for University Relations Susie Nicholson said university officials decided to postpone the PLAY days before opening night in part because of the “timing of the situation at Northern Illinois” University, in which a gunman killed five students before turning the gun on himself.
“But I just think the reason it happened [when it did] was because [the PLAY] was just brought to the attention of the campus safety people,” she said.
She said campus safety officials had “a real concern” about the PLAY’s violence.
When asked if those concerns included a fear the PLAY would inspire someone on campus to violence, Nicholson responded, “Who knows the answer to that? Out of an abundance of caution it would not be wise” to take any chances.
“Graphically violent scenes” in the PLAY were cited as a reason for the postponement in Monday’s press release. However, the university is showing the movie “American Gangster” at 6 and 9 p.m. today, a film the Motion Picture Association of America rated R for “for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity and sexuality.”
When asked if scenes of graphic violence in a movie should raise the same concerns as a PLAY, Nicholson said, “It definitely could.” She said she didn’t know of any plans to reschedule or cancel the movie’s showing.
She said campus security was concerned about the sounds of gunshots coming from the Techionery during the PLAY’s performance.
When asked if administrators considered posting signs warning the public about the sounds or if they considered other ways to mitigate concern other than stopping the performance, she said, “[Postponing the PLAY] was the decision the administration made” after receiving late notice about campus security’s concerns.
A program for the PLAY provided to The Courier warned audience members to expect “gun shots” during the production.
When asked if administrators or campus security officers would be on hand to ensure the production would not use the prop guns, Nicholson said there was “an extra officer on campus tonight.”
“Just for a precaution,” she said. “Because of the props and the nature of the show.”
When asked how he felt about the PLAY’s cancellation, Futterer said although he was “not happy” with the situation, he understood Tech officials’ response.
“The people above us — their responsibility is to the entire campus, and I’m not questioning their decision,” he said. “I think that being cautious is appropriate, given the situation.”
Asked how he felt about a university officials allowing a university-sponsored showing of the film “American Gangster” to go forward tonight in light of the PLAY’s cancellation, Futterer was vague.
“I have such mixed feelings I’m not able to put them into words,” he said.
Arka Tech reporter Caitlin Cordell provided information for this report.
