New safety measures are being placed on Central Michigan University’s campus. Earlier this year, CMU students voiced safety concerns following the tragic shooting incident at Michigan State University’s campus on Feb. 13.

On Aug. 1, CMU announced the addition of four new access controls to doors on academic buildings. Effective Aug. 7, new electronic access controls have been enabled in Pearce Hall, Anspach Hall, the Dow Science Building and Park Library.

These controls allow the CMU Police Department to remotely secure exterior doors in the event of an emergency on campus.

During the buildings’ designated operational hours, the doors will remain open and unlocked, and will be marked with an “enter” sign.

Doors marked with an “exit” sign will always be locked from the outside of the building, though all doors can be used to exit the building.

Academic buildings will remain open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. from Monday through Friday. However, CMU students, staff and faculty will have access to these buildings during extended hours, ranging from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., by using their CentralCard at selected doors with card readers.

Aaron Mills, the director of communications at CMU, said the university plans to install access controls on additional buildings throughout the academic school year as funds become available. These buildings will include the Health Professions Building, Education and Human Services Building, Moore Hall, Wightman Hall, North Art Studio, Music Building and Grawn Hall.

Coming to fruition

On Feb. 13, a mass shooting occurred in two buildings on MSU’s campus. The tragedy claimed the lives of three students, and five others were left injured after 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae opened fire in East Lansing.

Following the incident, Central Michigan Life asked CMU students about their perceived safety on campus.

In the article, Zainab Naaz, an international student from India, said she was “concerned” about safety in the lecture halls.

Echoing Naaz’s concerns, fifth-year student Emily Lang said the general public should not have access to the academic buildings.

“I think it’s odd that they are able to do that, and after what happened at MSU, I feel like we need to kind of have the same system in place that we have for the dorms,” Lang said in February.

However, according to Mills, the university’s efforts to strengthen campus safety predate the February incident at MSU.

“CMU began installing access controls in February 2017,” Mills said. “The information we shared with the campus community on Aug. 1 … is the next step in that process of expanding campus security.”

Weighing the options

CMUPD Lt. Mike Sienkiewicz said that while the university can’t completely close off access to the public, the new controls will provide an added layer of protection to university buildings.

“Security is really a balancing act,” he said. “You’re balancing an open, welcoming campus and a need for security, so they kind of conflict with each other. As a public institution, we still have somewhat of a need to have some openness to our facilities.”

Apart from access controls, Sienkiewicz said the CMUPD has met with groups of students, staff and faculty to provide additional training on how to navigate emergency situations and ensure their personal safety.

The training was conducted by CMU’s Emergency Management, which oversees projects and initiatives related to emergency and disaster preparation, training, mitigation, response and recovery.

According to CMU’s website, the management team provides safety training to the campus community through “classroom and online training, individual and group training, orientations, consultative sessions, seminars and orientation materials as they relate to major campus emergency incidents.”

Sienkiewicz recommends those on campus to familiarize themselves with CMU’s existing safety measures, including the Blue Lights placed around campus and CMU’s safety app, Rave Guardian. He said it’s also important for people to be aware of their surroundings when navigating campus grounds and to recognize entry and exit points on buildings.

In the event of an active shooter or violent incident on campus, Sienkiewicz said people should adhere to the “Run. Hide. Fight.” model, which are three actions one should take when confronted with an active attacker -- run if you can, hide if you can’t and fight as a last resort.

Sienkiewicz said he remains confident in the university’s ability to ensure campus security and encourages members of the community to join in these efforts.

“I would say CMU and Mount Pleasant in general are still a very safe community,” he said. “We encourage people to report suspicious situations or things that don’t seem right … Early reporting and early intervention are really key to helping stop something bad from happening. There’s a lot of tools here on campus to help keep people safe.”

For more information about safety on campus, visit CMU’s website.