MCMINNVILLE, Ore. -- Linfield College has banned weapons on campus.

The policy announced to students by e-mail this month prohibits weapons on college property, in any vehicle on college property, or at any college-sponsored event on or off campus.

Primarily written by director of campus safety Mike Dressel, the policy prohibits guns, swords, hatchets, axes, throwing stars, nunchucks, knives with a blade of least seven inches and anything else the college considers to be a weapon.

Dressel said a comprehensive policy was needed because of the violence that has flared on other U.S. campuses.

Previously, the only policy the private college had in place was a rule barring students from taking weapons into campus residences.