New U.T. Policy Strips Student Athletes' 2nd Amendment Right

[TacticaLogic]

[RobertNashville]

[TacticaLogic]

How about this, taken directly from the web page of the Dean of Students, University of Tennessee, Knoxville:

University of Tennessee Student Rights
Student Rights - Hilltopics
Introduction
By registering in the University, the student neither loses the rights nor escapes the duties of a citizen.

(Emphasis mine...)

Seems the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing...

[TacticaLogic]

[ProguninTN]

[RobertNashville]

[RobertNashville]

[RobertNashville]

[TacticaLogic]

[RobertNashville]

[fl0at]

Hey Robert, out of curiosity, what would be your opinion if the state of Tennessee said the following:
"It is now state policy that all residents who own or possess a firearm will be removed from the state."

Would you consider it illegal? I mean, living in Tennessee after all isn't a right, it is a privilege. You could live in any other state.

Now, substitute state with University of Tennessee and residents with student-athletes.

And, I think we are all missing the big picture here: UT has a rifle team. How does that work with Hamilton's new policy, and why wouldn't one of those dudes be a perfect candidate to bring suit? I mean, how the hell does a rifle team practice without rifles?

[tnxdshooter]

[RobertNashville]

[fl0at]

[RobertNashville]

I think this discussion is pretty pointless and I don't understand why you are so desirous of keeping it going.

I don't like this policy of UT…I think it's a bad and ineffectual attempt to address a symptom of a problem rather than the real problem (namely, having some thugs and criminals on its sports teams)…that said; I believe that a legal entity, like the University of Tennessee has the right to set policy on who can and who cannot participate in a completely voluntary, extracurricular activity just as it has the right to set standards/requirements on who can attend the university.

As to the rifle team issue; I didn't know UT had a rifle team nor do I know who owns the rifles or where they are housed and I certainly don't know how this policy affects the rifle team (if there is one) and how/where they practice; if you do, please feel free to share that information.

[fl0at]

[RobertNashville]

Is the University of Tennessee's decision "discriminatory" against those students who legally own firearms and who also want to participate in a sports team at UT? Yes, it is.

Do I think such a policy is illegal? No, I don't

First of all, "civil rights" mean something very specific, you quoted the law yourself. Other than for those specific reasons I or a business or any other legal entity can be very "discriminatory" about many things/in many ways without violating anyone's civil rights.

As a legal entity (person, business,, etc) I also have certain rights and if UT wants to deny entry to its sports programs to legal gun owners I believe they have the right to do so…I don't know how to say it any more plainly than that.

For me, it's absolutely no different than saying "you can't come into my home and smoke there" or "you can't come onto my property carrying a loaded firearm"…your "right" to smoke or to keep and bear arms do not supersede my right to control what happens on my property.

Yes, UT's policy presents a real problem and inconvenience for the student athlete…I know changing schools has NCAA consequences but the fact that it causes a problem for a student athlete does not negate UT's right to stipulate who can participate in its activities.

More important to this discussion, I think, is that a student/potential student simply does not have a "right" to attend UT or any specific college or university nor does a student have a right to participate in one of UT's sports teams. As a legal entity, UT has the right to establish qualifications for who can attend and who can participate in any activity…period. Were that not the case then no university could deny entry to any potential student for any reason.

In several other posts I have stated and firmly believe that "our rights do not exist in a vacuum." What I mean by that is that all the rights enumerated (note they are not "given" but just identified) by the Constitution all exist simultaneously…my right to free speech or to practice my religion or to peacefully assemble or to keep and bear arms are all severally and jointly and equally "rights". I would submit that any time an entity (government, person, etc.) attempts to elevate or enforce one "right" over the right of another, it makes that other person's "right" not a "right" at all.

Most people hear have a special affinity for the Second Amendment - as do I - but at the same time, I don't believe my right to keep and bear arms is any more important legally or philosophically than any other right we are endowed with.

As to UT Martin's rifle team; yes, I knew they had one…how or even if this policy affects them I don't know and haven't been able to find out anything new about this policy since it was announced…just as with any other extracurricular activity; UT Martin or UT Knoxville or any other UT campus has no obligation to offer any at all.

[fl0at]

[RobertNashville]

[fl0at]