TOPEKA ? Higher education officials today approved policies aimed at prohibiting weapons from state university campuses and requiring criminal background checks of university hires.

The action by the Kansas Board of Regents comes after the one-year anniversary of the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech that left 32 dead.

The regents also plan to hire a consultant soon to recommend improvements to the security plans at Kansas University and the five other regents universities.

Regent Jarold Boettcher pushed for a policy that makes the campuses weapons-free after the regents received a report that the university campuses had various policies on posting prohibitions to firearms under the state law that allows licensed concealed carry.

“What’s bothering me is that we don’t have an overall policy,” Boettcher said.

The board voted without dissent to ask the staff to come back with ways to implement a policy of no weapons — licensed or otherwise — on the campuses.

Several board members also were bothered by the fact that the universities had a wide range of policies on when to conduct criminal background checks of new employees.

Regent Gary Sherrer questioned several university presidents why they didn’t conduct the checks. Several said the background reviews were too costly and time consuming.

But Barbara Atkinson, head of the KU Medical Center, said the school does a background check on every new hire and medical student. The cost is usually $50 per check and takes about 72 hours, she said.

On the KU Lawrence campus, criminal background checks are conducted for some, but not all positions.

The regents then voted for a policy that will require the schools to conduct criminal records checks on all new hires.

“We want our kids to be in an environment that is safe when they’re on the campus,” Sherrer said.

After the discussion, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway agreed with the general direction of the regents.

“Good points are being made. We need to do everything possible to make our campuses safe and secure,” Hemenway said.