MSU Students Had to Barricade Doors, Unnecessarily

WASHINGTON - Feb. 14, 2023 - PRLog -- Media reports indicate that many students at Michigan State University [MSU], upon learning of an active shooter on campus and being told by authorities to shelter in place, were forced to try to construct makeshift barricades to block doors to protect their lives.

This should have been unnecessary, says professor and security consultant John Banzhaf, who notes that dozens of experts and organizations have strongly recommended that universities have locks or latches which permit classroom and other doors to be locked from the inside in the event of a campus-shooter alert.

If students had to put up what in too many cases prove to be ineffective makeshift barriers to block doors, it means that MSU did not take this elementary, proven, simple, and very inexpensive precaution to protect its student and faculty - something which could have taken no more than 20 minutes and $20 per door, says Banzhaf

He is the author of a report on simple yet inexpensive steps universities should take now to protect students and faculty from the increasingly foreseeable shooter on campus. See:
UNIVERSITY WORLD NEWS - How Can Universities Tackle The Threat Of Active Shooters? (https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=202210...)
WASHINGTON EXAMINER - 11 solutions to thwart school shootings (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secret...)

Here's what other experts are saying about the need for locks on classroom doors:

The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission recommended that "all classrooms in K-12 schools should be equipped with locked doors that can be locked from the inside."

Similarly USA TODAY advised that "security experts say locks go a long way toward keeping out danger.  You have to think in terms of we've got to have the least amount of tragedy and the most amount of saving, and that may be this key situation, . . .  Interior locks may have saved lives during a 2005 school shooting on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota."

And the magazine CAMPUS SAFETY urged its readers that "it is vital for staff to be able to successfully secure classrooms from the inside to protect students from potential threats."

So it appears that MSU, like so many universities, did not take this universally-recommended step to protect students and faculty in the event of an active shooter on campus.

This one simple and inexpensive precaution can help save lives, as well as shield a university from massive legal liability should a shooter enter a classroom and kill a student because it didn't have a $20 lock, says the law professor.

http://banzhaf.net/ jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com @profbanzhaf