U. acting like a law unto itself

The University of Utah has a new sheriff, er president, about to be sworn in, and maybe Michael K. Young will have the courage and good sense to end the stare-down with the state of Utah and allow law-abidin' folks on campus with legally acquired concealed weapons permits to pack their firearms.

Not because it's right, wrong, popular, unpopular, politically correct or will win more basketball games.

Because it's the law.

The only part of l-a-w the U. has a hard time understanding is the part about obeying it.

While the question about whether the school has the right to ban firearms may have been murky — if barely — in the three decades the U. has resolutely banned guns on its campus, it became as loud and clear as a nine-gun salute last month when the Legislature passed — and the governor signed — a bill that grants all power regarding public gun control to the Legislature.

And still the school, as directed by its board of trustees, refuses to follow the rules and allow legally concealed weapons — on the grounds that the state Supreme Court will soon hear a constitutional challenge to the Legislature's law.

In the event the Supreme Court agrees with the Legislature, the trustees have indicated they will then file an appeal in federal court.

This won't be over until it's over and over and over.

---

What President-elect Young might want to take a look at isn't the debate about gun rights but about what kind of message the university's behavior is sending to the 30,000 or so students who flock daily to its campus.

Isn't being above the law as dangerous as being below it?

What if students followed the board of trustees' example and refused to abide by laws they think are messing with their constitutional rights?

Maybe they would stop paying parking tickets, on the grounds that their two-hour lab class lasts twice as long as the one-hour meter where they parked their car. Or on the grounds that parking regulations are discriminatory, shamelessly favoring conscientious people who get up on time, eat a sensible breakfast and make it to school a half-hour before class.

Maybe they would only pay for half their books, on the grounds that the prices the bookstore charges for "required" texts would make the New York Mafioso blush.

Maybe they would smoke pot wherever and whenever they want to because it's medicinal or because, hey, Canada does it.