Berkey Hall at MSU opens to protest 10 months after school's mass shooting
EAST LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - Ten months after Michigan State University was victimized by a mass shooting, the school is reopening the building where the gunman entered before he opened fire on students and killed three.
It was an emotional reopening and not one that all students supported.
For some, like Cassidy Howard who is enrolled at the school, it will take time before she's comfortable learning at the university again.
"I’m anxious, I’m worried about my ability to study and to keep my grades up when I’m just in a building that reminds me of so much negativity," she said.
Howard is talking about Berkey Hall, which has remained closed since the MSU shooting in mid-February 2023. Three students died and five were injured. The suspect shooter later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after the carnage began.
The school decided that while tough, it overwhelmingly supported reopening the hall. It's using a phased approach, the university said in a statement. "We know the healing process is not linear and that each person will heal at their own pace and in their own way."
Dozens of students congregated outside the Hannah Administration building Monday to protest the opening.
It accompanied chants of "Our time, our place, healing at our pace."
Emily Moore delivered a forceful statement of the fear she had at the time of the violence.
"At 18 years old when my life was truly beginning, I had to write a goodbye letter and prepare a list of people in my head to copy and paste that message to in case the shooter entered my home," she said. "To the board of trustees at Michigan State University, a memory can haunt you like a ghost."
Howard said it's "all about finding the middle ground between those that are ready to go back and those that just need more time to heal."
MSU's statement included that it worked to provide as many options regarding classes to as many students as possible. Various offices including the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, University Health and Wellbeing, and the Office for Resource and Support Coordination have been prepared to help those teaching and learning in the hall.
Services will be offered throughout the spring semester.
"Supportive options are available to all students and educators in Berkey Hall throughout this first week of classes, including welcome tables with amenities, counselors on-site, and support dogs," a statement from the school said. "MSU community members needing additional support can access existing campus-based wellness resources."
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