Michigan State University promised security upgrades after shooting: Where they stand

Michigan State University students, faculty and staff now have access to online training intended to prepare them for an active shooter. And 82% of "identified" university classroom doors have new locks that are easy to use.

But one year after a gunman killed three students and injured five other people in a campus attack, the voluntary training remains untaken by most in the MSU community. Hundreds of less-used classroom doors don't have new locks, while many of the new locks cannot be secured remotely in the event of a crisis. Additional security upgrades promised after the shooting are still unfinished.

And a criminal investigation into false calls streaming into law enforcement or across scanners about second shooters and other incidents on campus — prompting confusion for first responders and residents amidst the chaos of the attack — remains ongoing.

In late January, MSU released a list of security updates, upgrades and policy changes in light of the 2023 attack. It's a process lauded by the interim president and outgoing security chief but one that requires vigilance.

"From metal detectors, the use of IDs, the changing of door locks, and others, there have been numerous improvements to campus safety and security on campus. They are noticed, however, you can acknowledge what has been improved and note that more work needs to be done," MSU student body president Emily Hoyumpa told the Free Press on Thursday.

"For me, before I can list other changes that need to be made, I want the university to complete the items they said they would, such as improvements in alert enhancements, among others. Safety and security do not have the same definition for everyone, as it is not one size fits all, and I hope the university makes an effort and continues to listen to students, faculty, staff, and the community concerns to understand what needs to be fixed."

Related: Family, friends, communities remember lives lost in MSU shooting

Marlon Lynch, an MSU vice president and its chief safety officer, joined a podcast to discuss the safety measures update the same day it was released. While praising the university's work thus far, Lynch — who was police chief at the time of the attack — said MSU will continue to push for improvements.

"We won't be static. ... If we stay focused on one thing, we're going to continue to maybe not meet the expectations. But when we have multiple avenues and partner with our community and listen to our community, then we'll continue to have progress," he said on the MSU Today show, posted Jan. 30.

A day after the update, the university also announced Lynch's impending departure. Lynch is leaving to take a comparable leadership post at the University of Colorado.

Active violent intruder training

About 3,300 people took the online active violent intruder course as of January: roughly 1,800 faculty or staff and 1,500 students, said MSU Department of Police and Public Safety spokesperson Dana Whyte. That represents roughly 14% of all faculty and staff and just 3% of students at the large university, with campuses in East Lansing, Grand Rapids and elsewhere in the state.

"The university plans to re-evaluate later this semester regarding how to encourage our campus community to complete the training. With the one-year mark of Feb. 13 approaching, we are prioritizing the wellness and healing of our campus at this time," Whyte said in a statement.

"We will certainly remind and encourage people later in the semester of the importance of the training and information on how to engage."

The training only became available in December 2023, despite a promise after the shooting from Interim President Teresa Woodruff that it would be mandatory and ready at the start of the school year.

In the fall, Lynch said the university decided against requiring the training in order to avoid possibly retraumatizing anyone in the community.

At the time, university officials said the need to finish a video component delayed rolling out the training. That component is still not available; Whyte said it's still in "postproduction." It's unclear why the university is now able to provide training without the video portion, while this was not an option in the fall.

For years, MSU offered in-person training on request. But during the pandemic, that shifted to also include virtual training. Whyte previously said the new training would be for broader audiences, and the video component would help prevent possible confusion from multiple training perspectives.

"Since the video was filmed on campus in numerous locations, this had to be done when classes weren't in session and when different locations were available to use for filming," she said Thursday, adding the video is supposed to be available sometime this semester.

While some advocacy groups argue active shooter drills can be harmful to participants, law enforcement and other experts say training is crucial to ensuring safety during an emergency.

Door locks

In the last year, Whyte said locks were added or replaced on 82% of "identified" doors. That identified qualifier is key: A month after the attack, Woodruff pledged to install easily usable locks on approximately 1,300 doors.

Months later, the university determined hundreds of those rooms did not need these locks. That's because they aren't used as frequently or are nontraditional classrooms, a former MSU spokesman told the Free Press in the fall.

Instead, MSU decided 793 classrooms needed new locks. As of October, 624 had these locks. Now, that's up to about 650.

That includes new locks on 29 doors in Berkey Hall, an academic building where multiple students were killed in the shooting. MSU installed the locks in December, reopening the hall in January.

Lynch, in the recent podcast interview, explained the two different types of locks used. In many cases, the doors use a thumb-turn lock. It's exactly what it sounds like: a lock engaged from the inside of a room using a thumb.

First responders can override the lock from the outside, he said, noting these are common in K-12 schools.

In bigger classrooms, like large lecture auditoriums with double doors, there are electronic locks. Faculty can push a button from the front of the room to lock the doors, but there are others throughout the classroom as well, Lynch said.

"It's a big red plunger," Lynch said. "Whenever those buttons are activated, the police are automatically sent to that particular location and the doors are automatically locked."

Ongoing investigation

As is often the case during a mass shooting, a fair amount of misinformation disseminates throughout the community.

During the MSU attack, law enforcement and others on campus appeared to receive conflicting reports about the shooter's location, along with false indicators of additional shooters or other incorrect details.

Afterward, law enforcement pointed to some of this chaos as to how the shooter was able to make it miles off campus before he was confronted.

“That's one of our takeaways is, how do we tell people … don't believe what you hear on the scanner?” now-MSU Police Chief Chris Rozman told the Free Press last year.

“That's why we need to be the ones to vet that information and to disseminate that information. And is there a better way for us to do that?”

At the time, Rozman said federal law enforcement suggested some of the misinformation flooding the scanner or other police communication might have been intentional.

Late Thursday, Whyte said the department believes that happened.

"We had one confirmed incident of a false report of a threat that occurred on Feb. 13 during the search for the suspect. Our detectives are continuing to investigate this case," she said.

She did not provide additional information about the investigation.

Alerts and a centralized security system

On the night of the attack, the first emergency alert came more than 10 minutes after the first calls to 911.

MSU police provided a variety of explanations for the delay, but vowed changes. Lynch outlined some of the improvements in the recent letter to the university community.

Lynch said the university can still deliver alerts via texts, emails and phone calls. But now, the university can also send alerts through its SafeMSU app. He encouraged everyone in the community to download the app.

The university now has the capacity to send alerts through its outdoor sirens and emergency Green Light phones.

Perhaps the largest technology upgrade prompted by the attack is not quite finished. That's the transition to several new security systems and a new security operations center.

That center is currently in a temporary location. Lynch and Whyte stressed it's up and running around the clock. But in the fall, Lynch said the new center would be complete by the end of 2023. More recently, he said it should be ready in the coming months.

Whyte reiterated this timeline without providing an explanation for the delay.

During the attack, law enforcement did not have the ability to monitor all security cameras in real time. In his recent letter to the community, Lynch said using the temporary center the department has "resolved several incidents in real time."

He did not say whether all cameras could be monitored in real time, and Whyte did not answer a question about the issue.

The university still cannot remotely lock every exterior door, either. In the fall, Lynch said this system would be ready, "as quickly as possible."

Whyte said buildings that have electronic lock access can be remotely secured from the operations center. But she did not say how many buildings have this electronic locking system.

Contact Dave Boucher: dboucher@freepress.com and on X, previously called Twitter, @Dave_Boucher1.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State hasn't met promised security upgrades after shooting