GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—Calvin College this fall will allow safety personnel with a police background to carry handguns on campus over the protest of some students at the private Christian school.

College trustees approved the use-of-force policy after a lengthy question-and-answer session about the rules, said Bastian Knoppers, chairman of the 30-member board.

“The board was very satisfied at the homework the college had done in putting together this detailed policy,” he said.

The policy was put in place partly in response to last year’s mass shooting at Virginia Tech.

About 60 students shouting “community, not weaponry” protested on the Calvin College campus last month after the Faculty Senate approved the safety department recommendation to allow trained officers to carry guns. The protesters argued campus crime is low and more student comment was needed.

“We are a Christian college and Jesus gave us an example of nonviolence,” Joseph Breems, a junior from Marino Valley, Calif., said at the time.

Only three of the department’s 43 officers have the police background the policy requires, but one is virtually always on duty, college officials said. All other guns are banned from campus.

Calvin College is a private, four-year institution affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church.