Classroom locks, active intruder training promised after MSU shootings

• MSU Interim President Teresa Woodruff announced a raft of security upgrades following a Feb. 13 mass shooting
• Locks on all classroom doors, restrictions on public access to buildings and more cameras are among the promised changes  
• The school also will conduct internal and outside reviews of MSU’s response to the attack

LANSING — Michigan State University will have locks on all classroom doors by next fall, one of several new security and safety measures following last month’s shooting that killed three students and critically injured five others, Interim President Teresa Woodruff said in a campus email Wednesday afternoon. 

In addition to security locks and more cameras, all students and employees will be required to undergo Active Violent Intruder Training starting next school year, the school said.

Woodruff said the school will “soon conduct an after-action evaluation of how our emergency personnel and university leaders responded to the crisis.”

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The school also plans to solicit an external third party review and solicit proposals for selecting a vendor soon. The external review will include a report that will be made public, Woodruff wrote. 

Wednesday’s email follows an announcement from MSU on Tuesday that it will be restricting public access to campus buildings later this month.  

Buildings will require key card access from 6 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Monday through Fridays — and at all times on weekends. The buildings have restricted access from 11 p.m.  to 7:30 a.m currently. Students, faculty and staff have keycards.

MSU campuses in Flint, Grand Rapids and Detroit are evaluating possible changes in building access as well. 

Campus security protocols and measures vary across the state. At Oakland University, for instance, every classroom can be locked from the inside, same at U-M Flint. At Kalamazoo College, however, authorities told Bridge Michigan that few classrooms can be locked. 

Several schools contacted by Bridge offer active shooter training, though it’s not mandatory at most. At Ferris State University, all students go through the training while training is voluntary at Oakland University and Saginaw Valley State University. All new employees at the University of Detroit-Mercy get training and it will be mandatory for students in the fall.

Woodruff said MSU plans to have locks installed on all doors in 1,300 academic classrooms by the fall semester.

In the Feb. 13 mass shooting, two students were killed and several others injured in a classroom in Berkey Hall. The professor teaching in the classroom told Bridge Michigan there were no locks on classroom doors, an account since confirmed by other students and the school.  

MSU said it also plans to expand the number of security cameras, including in academic buildings, and Green Light campus security phones. 

On the night of the shootings, it took campus police hours to secure a security photo of the gunman, likely delaying his identification and capture as students huddled in dorm rooms, restaurants and other places waiting for the threat to end. The gunman was eventually located and, police said, died by suicide as officers approached him miles from campus.  

There are currently more than 2,000 cameras on campus, Woodruff said. MSU Police and Public Safety is requesting proposals for this camera expansion. The school plans to end the request for proposal process by late March.