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MSU students decorate luminary displays for one-year anniversary of campus shooting

Students gathered at the Gilbert Pavilion in the Breslin Student Events Center Monday evening to pick up and decorate luminary displays to be displayed throughout the week for the one-year anniversary of the Feb. 13 campus mass shooting.

The event was organized by the Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, in collaboration with MSU’s March For Our Lives, Students Demand Action and Sit Down Michigan State.

Students at the event were handed a green LED candle, a white paper bag and had access to Sharpies for writing messages or drawing illustrations.

Students had the opportunity to leave their luminary displays at various locations on campus such as the Spartan Statue and the Rock. Additionally, alumni from around the world were encouraged to post photos of their luminaries on social media Tuesday night using the hashtag #SpartansTogether.

MSU Museum preserves items from memorials created in wake of campus shooting

In the days and weeks following the Feb. 13, 2023 shooting on MSU’s campus, students, faculty and other members of the community gathered to mourn the collective loss they had suffered. At the Rock, the Spartan Statue and along the Red Cedar River, people left countless flowers, notes and stuffed animals to symbolize their grief.

With each passing day, rain, snow and wind threatened to erase the displays. It was shortly before spring break, with inclement weather on the way, that the MSU Museum was approached with the task of removing these items before they were destroyed.

Thus began the monumental effort to catalog, digitize and preserve the thousands of memorial items spread across campus.

After volunteers organized to collect the memorial items and bring them to the museum’s collection facility, the most pressing task was to stabilize the materials to ensure they weren’t further damaged. Director of the MSU Museum Devon Akmon said the museum used various techniques, such as applying dry paper to soaked items, to prevent the spread of mold in items such as stuffed animals that had been left outside.

Once materials were sufficiently stabilized, Akmon said, they were moved to long-term storage where temperature, humidity, and light are all controlled to ensure the integrity of the collected materials.

Akmon estimates the entire process of preserving, digitizing and archiving the memorial items will take at least a year, although there is no hard deadline for the project. Additionally, Akmon mentioned the possibility of the collection growing as new materials might be found or submitted to the museum.

Students express frustrations over exams being held on day before Feb. 13

With the one-year mark of the Feb. 13 shooting on Michigan State University’s campus, many students are struggling to balance academic workload and healing.

MSU spokesperson Mark Bullion said university guidelines encourage instructors to cancel classes on Feb. 13 and have no assignments or tests due on the 13 or 14.

However, Bullion said instructors could assign work and hold tests or classes on Feb. 12, the day before the anniversary of the campus shooting.

Due to this, many students had been assigned exams on Feb. 12 in certain classes.

Biosystems engineering freshman Kyla Zhao said that although taking an exam on the day before the one-year mark of the shooting hasn’t affected her as much, she understands why others in her class could be upset.

Journalism sophomore Ava Moschet said having an exam in a class isn’t something that particularly bothers her, but she recognizes why others could be personally affected.

While Zhao understands that the university can’t delay students’ learning, she said, it feels as though students’ mental health should take priority over academics.

Moschet said MSU putting guidelines in place is a good step in supporting students during this period. Ensuring that professors cannot overload students is important, she said.

She also believes an entire week off from classes would be “too much,” as continuing academic routines can be important to many students.

Based on original reporting by Emilio Perez Ibarguen and Amy Cho.