Michigan State students, faculty to return to class

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Even as officials have faced pressure to delay the return, Michigan State University students and staff are set to return to class today. Some in the community, however, are not ready for the rapid return.

“Coming back together is something that will help us,” said Thomas Jeitschko, executive vice president for academic affairs, adding that faculty will have extensive flexibility in how they run their courses.

“We know that everybody heals at their own pace and in their own manner. Getting it exactly right will not be possible,” Jeitschko said at a news conference Sunday. “Coming back into spaces that are familiar [and] interacting with people who are familiar is helpful in the process of healing and grieving.”

The editorial board of The State News, the student newspaper, wrote Thursday that they would not immediately attend classes, saying more time was needed to heal.

Michigan State University professor Marco Diaz-Munoz is still haunted by what he witnessed last Monday night, when a gunman entered his classroom in Berkey Hall, killing two of his students in what he describes as “12 minutes of terror.”

“Those images haunt me. The images of those two girls,” Diaz-Munoz told The Associated Press.

Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner, both juniors, would die that night, Feb. 13. The gunman would shoot six more students during the rampage in two campus buildings. Brian Fraser also would die. Five others would suffer critical gunshot wounds.

Diaz-Munoz said the university had offered to have another professor teach through the end of the semester.

“On one hand, I want to forget it all. But then on the other hand, I think I need to help my students pick up the pieces,” Diaz-Munoz said. “I think I need to help my students build a sense of meaning. It’s not going to be the same as before, but there has to be something good out of it.”

Following the shooting, parents arrived from all over the state to bring students home, at least for the rest of last week. A petition demanding hybrid or online options for students received more than 20,000 signatures by Saturday.

Jeitschko said students will have weeks to decide whether to take a regular grade or a credit/no credit option, which would not affect their overall grade-point average.

Sparrow Hospital said three wounded students remained in critical condition Sunday, while one was upgraded to fair and another was listed in serious but stable condition. Interim university President Teresa Woodruff said Michigan State would cover funeral costs and hospital expenses.

The shots broke out at Michigan State on Monday during evening classes at Berkey Hall and nearby at the MSU Union, a social hub where students can study, eat and relax. Students across the vast campus were ordered to shelter in place for four hours — “run, hide, fight” if necessary — while police hunted for Anthony McRae, 43, who eventually killed himself when confronted by police not far from his home in Lansing.

Police said McRae’s mental health could have been a factor, based on a note found on him. He was the lone shooter and had no connection to the victims or to Michigan State as a student or employee, they said.

Diaz-Munoz said that he is sharing his story in hopes of bringing about gun reform.

“If the lawmakers and the senators saw what I saw, instead of hearing in the news one more statistic. If they had seen those girls and the pools of blood that I saw, the horror we lived, they would be shamed into action,” Diaz-Munoz said.