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After the mass shooting that killed three students and wounded five others, MSU students are not ready to return to in-person learning. Photo: Scott Olson / Getty

MSU students are afraid to return to class

Following the mass shooting at Michigan State University, students started a petition to not return to in-person class on Monday.

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After a mass shooting at Michigan State University (MSU) that killed three students; Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner, who were shot dead at Berkeley Hall, and Brian Fraser, killed at the MSU Union—-students are not ready to return to on-campus learning, after university suspended all classes and campus activities. 

More than 18,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling MSU to offer hybrid or online options for “students and parents who are uncomfortable with returning to campus with such haste.” 

MSU’s newspaper The State News declared “We’re not going to class Monday,” a sentiment shared by many students, parents, and faculty. 

It further adds that things they used to be preoccupied with like upcoming exams or “when we could go back to bed…..many of us will never do these things again without fear.” 

Expressing that “we also can’t log onto Zoom on Monday and meaningfully engage in our classwork,” because students are still grieving. 

After a shelter-in-place was put in place during the mass shooting, many students were locked down in classrooms, dorm rooms, and other facilities around campus. 

Marco Díaz-Muñoz, professor at MSU teaching Cuban literature, told CNN that “I could see this figure, and it was so horrible because when you see someone who’s totally masked, you don’t see their face, you don’t see their hands—it was like seeing a robot.”

Some students were able to escape but others’ stayed to apply pressure on the wounded so they wouldn’t bleed out, said Díaz-Muñoz to CNN. 

“I want to not remember these scenes and not have to go teach that class,” he added. 

MSU Police and Public Safety said in a tweet “the shooter had two 9 millimeter handguns on his person at the time he was located. The weapons were purchased legally, but they were not registered.” 

Also, it has been confirmed that a note was found on the shooter—Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez said “the note that indicated where he was going to visit and also kind of gave an indication of why, maybe a motive, but nothing we can actually confirm yet,” referencing two pages of notes around in the suspect’s wallet. 

Despite all this, students are expected to return to class Monday, February 20th.

MSU held a vigil on campus—“In our collective grief, hope and resolve, we are truly a Spartan nation. Let us continue to find strength and hope in our community of Spartans,” said Interim President Teresa K. Woodruff, Ph.D. “To MSU, but also to the nation, let us create a new future together.”

“The vigil represents what is best about the Spartan community — coming together to be there for each other, the community, the state, the country and the world,” said Allyn Shaw, assistant vice president for student involvement and leadership in Student Life and Engagement. “We are honoring those we have lost and those who are recovering, but also the gathering shows that it’s okay to not be okay.”

A gofundme has been started for Arielle Anderson, one of the three MSU students killed. 

The Detroit News reports that a “service is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday at the First English Evangelical Lutheran Church, located at 800 Vernier Road in Grosse Pointe Woods.”

 

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