ALLENDALE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Administrators and police at Grand Valley State University held a virtual briefing Thursday afternoon to discuss safety and outline what is already being done to keep campus secure.
GVSU will take a look at its security after three students were killed at Michigan State University.
Freshman Trevor Cordell has a lot of friends who attend MSU and said the university has been keeping students aware.
“The university did a great job of keeping us updated. We’ve got lots of emails and support messages of how to reach out to a counselor,” Cordell said.
GVSU President Philomena Mantella, along with campus police, gave a virtual presentation going over resources available like a campus safety app and recent upgrades to door locks. They also discussed active shooter training provided to officers.
“I promise you as your president I will do everything possible to keep our community safe,” Mantella said.
Brandon DeHaan, the director of public safety, said the department will look closely at campus safety.
“We wait for the final report from Michigan State University to really look at our own policies and procedures. Our police leadership team reviews every critical incident involving active shooters around the nation,” DeHaan said.
Student Will Gaugier said the university could learn from local school districts that provide active shooter response training.
“Here at Grand Valley we haven’t done much from a classroom standpoint. If I was in my dorms studying or at the library I, to be honest, wouldn’t know what to do,” Gaugier said.
Adding additional locks or changing which buildings are locked and when are something students are talking about.
The dorms are locked but other, more public buildings are not, according to student Brianna Judkins.
“Anybody can walk in and out of the dining halls and the library and the academic halls, so I think that those are definitely more places of concern but I just don’t know how the university would go about making those more secure,” Judkins said.
The president of the university is encouraging students to provide their thoughts during the process.