EAST LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — MSU students are sharing a powerful message involving security and healing, a year after the deadly campus shooting that left 3 dead and others wounded.
The school tells us they’re implementing a larger strategy that addresses all the steps that can be taken to protect students and faculty.
“In general it feels like they have been doing everything they can,” says Sophomore Jordan Embry. “The door locks, obviously the Union is locked after a certain hour.”
At Berkley Hall, the Union, and other parts of campus, there are more upgrades you can see. MSU has added more key card access, and centralized monitoring of cameras throughout campus.
“That’s what our new security operations center has become. A centralized location of all the cameras. Pre-existing and the new ones,” says MSU VP of Communication Emily Guerrant.
The deaths of students Arielle Anderson, Brian Fraser, and Alexandria Verner continue to serve as a horrible reminder of what took place on Feb. 13th, 2023. Since then, training has been ongoing for emergencies for students and faculty.
“We have over 800 classrooms. We are 82% there in terms of installing these new door locks. We do still have some classrooms that need them. We should have that wrapped up into the summer,” says Guerrant.
“I think they’ve done a lot of things to help us feel safer, a lot to make us feel welcome with wellness check-ins,” says student Brooke Garonzik.
“A lot of people have tried to go on as close to normal as they can be. So, there’s times it still gets brought up and it’s a very heavy subject,” adds Jordan.
The university says ongoing engagement with students is an important part of their approach, geared toward promoting safety.
