OKLAHOMA CITY — A campus safety task force called Monday for more funding for better counseling services on Oklahoma college campuses and reaffirmed its commitment to fighting concealed weapon legislation.

Gov. Brad Henry’s Campus Life and Safety and Security (CLASS) Task Force met in Oklahoma City to discuss campus safety legislation.

Oklahoma State Regents Chancellor Glen D. Johnson said the group took a position against conceal-and-carry legislation last spring when it was introduced.

Johnson said there might have been good intentions behind the proposal, but it would “make campuses more dangerous.”

The law would have allowed people with special firearms training to carry concealed weapons on state campuses.

Some regents said they had heard rumors of another bill being introduced.

“If [it] comes up again, we want to be ready to oppose [it],” Johnson said.

Phil Berkenbile, state director for Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, suggested being proactive and sending a letter to Gov. Henry, the Speaker of the State House of Representatives and Senate President Pro Tempore, reaffirming the board’s stance on the issue.

Members of the task force also discussed the need for increased funding of emergency notification and response systems.

Anil Gollahalli, interim general counsel at OU, spoke about OU’s preparation.

Gollahalli said the university continues to run tests of its alert system, which notifies people on campus when there is an emergency. Each time, a larger percentage of students is notified, he said.

Sometimes, though, there are unforeseen problems with communication. Cell phone towers can get clogged with calls, which forces OU to use alternative forms of communication like e-mail, he said.

“OU has done a lot of great work,” Johnson said about OU’s emergency response system. “[The] University of Oklahoma had a comprehensive [system] before [the 2007 shootings at] Virginia Tech and built on it even more.”

Task force members said money is needed to increase the number of mental health professionals and services on campuses in state.

“I think that it’s important that people are actually talking about these issues and getting factual information,” said Terri White, commissioner for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

Mental health professionals and counselors are too absent from college campuses in Oklahoma, Johnson said.

Mental health professionals make campuses safer, and they should be on campuses to prevent tragedies from occurring and to provide services if they do happen, he said.

In its next meeting, the group will address the need to graduate more mental health professionals from Oklahoma schools.

The next CLASS meeting will be Dec. 8.