New Penn Design Dean Leaving Texas Because of “Campus Carry” Gun Law

Frederick Steiner | University of Texas

The new dean of Penn’s School of Design says he never would have left his old job if it weren’t for guns.

Frederick Steiner, announced Thursday as Penn’s new dean, told The Texas Tribune he was leaving the University of Texas because of the state’s new “campus carry” law allowing people to carry firearms to class and on campus, starting next school year.

“I would have never applied for another job if not for campus carry,” he told the Tribune. “I felt that I was going to be responsible for managing a law I didn’t believe in.”

He added: “Penn is a great institution and I am very happy to go to Penn, but I was approached … and, if it wouldn’t have been for campus carry, I wouldn’t have considered it,” he said.

Steiner has deep connections to Penn. He earned his doctoral degree, in city and regional planning, from the Penn Design, and he has also been a research scholar at the Penn Institute for Urban Research since 2013.

He replaces Marilyn Jordan Taylor, who is stepping down after serving as dean since 2008.