The Associated Students of Michigan State University President Lorenzo Santavicca says he is good friends with Ohio State University's undergraduate President and, though he's shocked and saddened by Monday's attack on OSU's campus, "We have to be ready for things like that, and it's unfortunate but it's coming to be the new ideal in America," Santavicca said.
A big part of being ready, says MSU Police Captain Doug Monette, is making sure your information is up to date in the university's email and text alert system. (You can click here to do that.)
"Staying informed and being proactive is a key component to being safe and surviving these types of encounters," Monette said.
"Students just need to be very conscious of what is going on around them, and I think our university does a pretty good job of doing that for students, and I think ultimately that's something that everyone should own," Santavicca said. He says he has fielded a lot of questions after the attack, mostly about what it means for Michigan State and other Big Ten schools.
"The biggest question comes to be, what can we expect from our university that we are paying many dollars to, and our tuition and security and safety, students just want to be reassured that they are going to be safe here every day on campus," Santavicca said.
Monette says University Police are prepared for incidents like what happened at Ohio State. "We train, and we train quite often, whether it be an in service or on shift, for these type of events. We've been training since Columbine to make sure we have the resources and the equipment and the techniques to be effective and efficient," Monette said.
The police captain says this incident is unlikely to change how the university prepares officers. It keeps up on the latest trends in training regardless.
For information from MSU Police about how to act in active shooter situations, click here.
