Michigan State University has resumed classes on the East Lansing campus Monday, a week after a gunman carried out a shooting attack that killed three students and wounded five.
The Lansing State Journal reports that although classes have resumed, the university is not returning to normal operations.
A credit/no-credit grading system announced last week will be expanded to include all spring undergraduate courses, interim Provost Thomas Jeitschko said. Professors also have been asked not to impose "heavy lift" assignments on returning students.
"We know from mental health experts and we know from others who've unfortunately gone through these situations before us that coming back together as a community is healing," Jeitschko said. "For many, there are some people who feel differently and will feel differently about this."
Michigan State University classes have been canceled since Feb. 13 when a gunman attacked students on campus. He killed three and wounded five before turning a gun on himself when encountered by police several miles away from the school.
MSU students Brian Fraser, 20, of Grosse Pointe, Alexandria Verner, 20, of Clawson and Arielle Anderson, 19, of Harper Woods, were killed during the shooting.
Two of the five students wounded in the attack are still listed as critical at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. Two others are now listed as serious, and another is listed in fair condition.
The MSU Union, where one student was shot to death, will be closed through the end of the semester. Officials had previously announced that Berkey Hall, where two students died, would be closed to classes for the rest of the year.
Interim MSU Deputy Police chief Chris Rozman said police would have an increased presence on campus in the next week.
Students have had mixed reactions to returning to classes. More than 23,000 people have signed a Change.org petition as of Monday urging MSU to offer hybrid or virtual options for students not ready to return to campus. The editorial board of The State News, the student newspaper, declared in an editorial that its members would not go back to class.
"We’re processing trauma," the editorial said. "We’re coming to terms with grief. We can’t be worried about a deadline or an exam. We need more time to process without a class to worry about....Some of us feel like we can never step foot on our campus again."
