Gun-Free Campus Comes To WLA College

Gun-Free Campus Comes To WLA College

Alarmed by the level of lethal violence on college campuses across the country and determined to follow through on its pledge to reassess its security procedures in the wake of the shootings at Santa Monica College in June, the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees has unanimously approved a resolution banning firearms on its nine campuses “to the maximum extent allowable by law.”

This includes West Los Angeles College.

“It is our responsibility,” said Board of Trustees vice-president Scott Svonkin, author of the resolution, “to provide a safe environment for our students, allowing them to feel secure and able to totally focus on their academic goals. They must never be fearful about setting foot on one of our campuses.”

The District’s Administration of Justice and Criminal Justice classes offering firearms education and training are now conducted at off-site locations, eliminating any need for guns at the nine colleges.

“The presence of firearms, even when nonoperational and in the instructional setting, lends itself to the potential for panic and fear,” states the resolution.

Board president Miguel Santiago and fellow trustee Steve Veres are co-sponsors of the resolution.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department provides law enforcement services for the nine campuses.

About the Los Angeles Community College District

The Los Angeles Community College District, the nation's largest community college district, serves one-quarter million students a year in more than 36 cities in Los Angeles County at its nine colleges. The District covers nearly 900 square miles and has educated and trained the region's diverse workforce since 1969.

About the LACCD Building Program

LACCD’s Building Program is a 14-year, $6 billion program funded mostly by taxpayer-approved bonds, supplemented by additional funding from the state of California. With approximately $3 billion spent so far, the LACCD’s nine colleges are benefiting from brand new and renovated academic buildings, sports facilities, arts complexes, administrative buildings, child development centers, and parking structures. The Building Program has completed hundreds of separate projects, with hundreds more in the planning or construction stages. For more information on the LACCD’s construction program and a list of awards the District has received for its environmentally responsible projects, visit www.laccdbuildsgreen.org.