Michigan State students petition for alert system to include neighboring crime

In response to a lack of notification from Michigan State University about two shootings that took place in the East Lansing area on Halloween weekend, a petition was started called “Keep Us Safe: Update MSU’s Safety Alert Protocol”.

The first shooting took place on M.A.C. Avenue and Linden Street, and the second occurred near Stoddard Avenue and Frye Avenue, two locations that are outside the jurisdiction of the MSUPD. They instead fell under ELPD, which is why no alert was sent from MSU.

Recent journalism graduate Cassidy Howard remembers walking around on Halloween night and feeling a sense of community. They remember hearing from word of mouth that there had been a shooting near them barely ten minutes prior and searching for an alert of confirmation from the university.

Howard also remembers Feb. 13, 2023, when they and their friends were planning to go to the Union when an alert came through on their phone that there was an active shooter in the area. That is one of the many reasons why they started the petition.

“Violence doesn’t recognize jurisdictional lines,” Howard said. “MSU is not magically immune to the crime that happens in East Lansing. There is no magical force field around East Lansing that crime is impossible to get through.”

Because of this, the petition asks that MSU send out alerts for crimes that occur in the Downtown East Lansing area and/or within 0.5 miles of MSU’s main campus, particularly when a firearm is involved.

Criminal justice and psychology sophomore Liza Hacker was at a co-op with her boyfriend about half a block away from the shootings. They had sheltered in the co-op and were waiting for more information before it was deemed safe to leave, but that information never came from the university.

Hacker’s boyfriend, who attends Western Michigan University, was especially appalled at MSU’s response to the shooting because he was previously alerted to a crime that took place in a neighborhood near his campus.

“It was just a neighborhood in Kalamazoo, but because it was so close to campus they made sure that the students were aware so that they could be safe,” Hacker said.

That contributed to her decision to sign the petition, saying that continuous updates throughout the night “would have been very helpful.”

Wildlife and ecology management junior Mars Fagin thinks the petition is much needed because he thinks everyone on our campus can infer that if something happens across the street or in the surrounding neighborhoods, it still affects the campus.

Fagin knows that ASMSU had a meeting to discuss the issue, but thinks the best way to get real change is for students to use their voice, which is why he not only signed the petition but also reposted it on his social media to encourage others to sign it too.

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“That’s the most powerful thing that we could do,” Fagin said.

He also noted that the area in which the shootings took place is where many students live in fraternities, sororities, co-ops, or other housing marketed to students.

“I think MSU’s perspective was that they didn’t want to cause an alarm in the community,” Fagin said. “But I think that issuing a directive to shelter in place in the nearest staffed residence or private residence of people that you know was a perfectly fine thing to issue.”

Howard agrees that the university took the stance of not wanting to cause panic, but they think the alternative is much worse; when people don’t know, they guess.

The petition’s original goal was to get 500 signatures, a goal they met nearly five days after publishing, receiving almost 350 signatures within the first 24 hours. Signatures are still rolling in, and a new goal of 1,000 has been set.

In the case their demand cannot be met, they will call for an open meeting dedicated to discussing the specifics of the MSU alert system, in which the community can share their concerns and work with campus officials to create a better security plan adapted to the comfort of staff and students.

“I cannot stress enough that this is not something where I have a sit-down conversation, this is not a me thing,” Howard said. “Every signature on this petition is a voice that does not feel that they are being properly heard.”

Howard said they think people want to have dialogue right now, to hear from the students who were at MSU for the 2023 shooting, to hear from students who heard a little about it in high school.

“There is no shortage of life experience on this campus, and I think that dialogue is the most beneficial way to find a solution that allows everybody to feel safe,” Howard said.

To sign the petition students can go to Change.org and search for “Keep Us Safe: Update MSU’s Safety Alert Protocol”.