"It's hard to feel safe right now": Michigan State students welcome new campus safety measures
EAST LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Michigan State University is implementing new safety measures on campus following the mass shooting last month that left three students dead.
The changes include locks on classroom doors, added security cameras, and mandatory safety training. One of the biggest changes is building access. Starting March 13, most buildings on the East Lansing campus will require key card access between the hours of 6 p.m. and 7:30 a.m.
For many MSU students, the campus hasn't felt like home since the shooting.
"It's hard to feel safe right now because of everything that happened. So it helps, I know they're trying, but it's just a hard situation," said freshman Talia Jernigan.
MSU deputy spokesperson Dan Olsen said it's a process, but they are working to rebuild trust.
"That sense of safety was violated for us on February 13," he said.
Olsen said the university is trying to strike a balance between feeling secure and providing the openness a public university offers. One of their first steps will be putting locks on classroom doors.
"We've got 1,300 classrooms across campus, and we're going to start with those based on the most urgent needs," said Olsen. "So that will be a project that goes through until the start of the fall semester next year."
They will also be adding more security cameras in academic buildings, and adding cameras to the emergency phones throughout campus.
MSU will also start requiring all students, staff, and faculty to complete active violence intruder training.
"How often individuals have to go through that training has yet to be determined, but we're going to certainly start with everybody getting that this fall," Olsen said.
For some students, the changes feel too little too late.
"After the incident, I immediately was like why didn't they have some of this stuff?," said freshman, Syminee Miller.
Though most admit, there are no simple answers.
"It's easy to be really negative about it just because it was a really scary situation. But all in all, there's a lot of stuff that happened that no one can predict," said Isabel Greene, an MSU freshman.
Olsen said MSU will also be getting a third-party evaluation of its response to the shooting. They will get further recommendations from that review and will share those findings with the public.
