AP

Students, faculty return to Michigan State after shooting

Feb 19, 2023, 8:44 PM | Updated: Feb 20, 2023, 2:48 pm

March for Our Lives cofounder David Hogg speaks during a news conference to call for gun reform, Mo...

March for Our Lives cofounder David Hogg speaks during a news conference to call for gun reform, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

(AP Photo/Al Goldis)


              March for Our Lives cofounder David Hogg speaks during a news conference to call for gun reform, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
            
              Attendees observe a moment of silence for the victims of gun violence during a news conference to call for gun reform, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Lansing, Mich. Michigan State University students and faculty returned to the East Lansing campus Monday as the university resumed normal operations one week after a gunman shot and killed three students and injured five others.(AP Photo/Al Goldis)
            
              State Rep. Brenda Carter, D-Pontiac, left, and State Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-Keego Harbor, join hands during a news conference to call for gun reform, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Lansing, Mich. Michigan State University students and faculty returned to the East Lansing campus Monday as the university resumed normal operations one week after a gunman shot and killed three students and injured five others.(AP Photo/Al Goldis)
            
              Hundreds of flowers and other keepsakes lay beside The Rock, a popular MSU landmark, as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              March for Our Lives cofounder David Hogg speaks during a news conference to call for gun reform, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
            
              Attendees observe a moment of silence for the victims of gun violence during a news conference to call for gun reform, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Lansing, Mich. Michigan State University students and faculty returned to the East Lansing campus Monday as the university resumed normal operations one week after a gunman shot and killed three students and injured five others.(AP Photo/Al Goldis)
            
              State Rep. Brenda Carter, D-Pontiac, left, and State Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-Keego Harbor, join hands during a news conference to call for gun reform, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Lansing, Mich. Michigan State University students and faculty returned to the East Lansing campus Monday as the university resumed normal operations one week after a gunman shot and killed three students and injured five others.(AP Photo/Al Goldis)
            
              Hundreds of flowers and other keepsakes lay beside The Rock, a popular MSU landmark, as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              A Michigan State student walks past Berkey Hall on his way to class as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Sue Dodde, a mother from Conklin at right, embraces a student with a "free hug from a mom" as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Hundreds of flowers and other keepsakes lay beside The Rock, a popular MSU landmark, as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Eder Lopez, a 20-year-old MSU sophomore studying psychology, walks to his first class as the sun rises on the first day campus opens back up on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Words to "MSU Shadows," the school's alma mater song, are handwritten in chalk along the side walk as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Charlie Shenk, a Michigan State sophomore from Cleveland, prays outside of Berkey Hall as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Culley Herbert, an MSU freshman from Grand Rapids, walks a quiet campus early on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., as classes begin one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. "I'd always go to the Union to study, I'd be walking back 10 to 11 at night and not think twice about it," Herbert said. "But now, you know, sometimes, I gotta just keep that in the back of my mind." (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Flowers are displayed on the door handles of Berkey Hall while keeping the doors closed as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Khai Mahnke, a mother from Rochester, embraces a student with a "free hug from a mom" as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Cora Fuller, a 19-year-old Michigan State sophomore from Macomb, smiles as she receives a "free mom hug" from Sue Dodde, a mother from Conklin, as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university.  (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Abby Langell, a Michigan State graduate student studying social work, embraces a friend near The Rock as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university.  (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              A significantly smaller amount of students traverse campus as it opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Hundreds of flowers overflow from the base of the Spartan Statue as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.,one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Hundreds of flowers overflow from the base of the Spartan Statue as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.,one week after three students were killed and five others injured during a mass shooting at the university. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)
            
              Michigan State international students Dheeraj Thota, left, and Chirag Bhansari, both freshman studying computer science, found a single rose on their walk to class as campus opens back up for the first day of classes on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.  Michigan State University is set to return to classes Monday, with officials saying they hope a return to familiarity may help the community heal. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University students and faculty returned to the East Lansing campus Monday as the university resumed normal operations, one week after a gunman shot and killed three students and injured five others.

The 50,000-student university’s campus remained relatively quiet on the first day back, with many professors allowing students to attend class virtually. Many students skipped class to attend an afternoon protest at the state Capitol in Lansing to call for gun control legislation.

All students at the university this semester will be given a credit/no credit option, which allows students to receive credit for all classes without it impacting their overall grade point average. University officials also asked teachers in an email Friday to “extend as much grace and flexibility as you are able with individual students, now and in the coming weeks.”

Brogan Kelley, a freshman at Michigan State, left East Lansing after last week’s shooting to return home to his family in west Michigan. But he drove back on Sunday so that he could attend class in person. He said that he felt like it was important “to go back about my life.”

“For me, not going to class felt like I would have been letting the shooter win. I didn’t want this one tragedy to define the place I call home and the university that’s giving me my education,” said Kelley said.

Kelley, who was at an off-campus house when the shooting took place, said that the majority of his professors had given students the option to attend class in person or online, with many students choosing the latter.

The shootings at Michigan State happened last Monday during evening classes at Berkey Hall and nearby at the MSU Union. Students across the vast campus were ordered to shelter in place for four hours — “run, hide, fight” if necessary — while police hunted for Anthony McRae, 43, who eventually killed himself when confronted by police not far from his home in Lansing.

Two wounded students remain in critical condition at Sparrow Hospital, university police said Monday. Two other students were in stable condition with another student in “fair condition.”

The university has been criticized by some in the community for returning too quickly. The editorial board of The State News, the student newspaper, wrote Thursday that they wouldn’t attend class next week, either in person or online. More time was needed to heal, the students wrote.

March for Our Lives founder David Hogg, a survivor of a 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, joined hundreds of students and community members at the state Capitol for a sit-down protest Monday. Hogg and other students spoke on the capitol steps, calling for state lawmakers to pass enact gun reform.

“Enough is enough. How many more students have to die until you can hear our cries?” Michigan State senior Kelsey Gruzin said outside the state Capitol.

In the days after the shooting, Michigan Democrats, who control all levels of the state government for the first time in decades, have promised to pass gun-safety measures. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has called for gun control legislation that includes universal background checks, safe storage laws and “extreme risk protection orders.”

“It’s no secret that your governor is probably going to be running for president,” Hogg said Monday. “Are you ready to hold Gretchen Whitmer accountable?”

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