Recommendation on lock types

Storeroom function locks automatically lock doors, whereas thumb-turn style locks have to be manually locked from the inside.

Though the review recommends MSU use the automatic locks, MSU has been installing thumb-turn style locks. Whyte said these will be used to complete the project. 

Whyte said the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety, or MSUDPPS, based their decision to install thumb-turn style locks based on the locks used by other Big Ten universities. 

When asked if she perceives a potential safety risk with doors being left unlocked during classroom instruction, Whyte said the decision was made “after receiving both feedback from students and faculty.”

Vice President for the Department of Police and Public Safety Marlon Lynch decided that classroom doors should only be locked in an emergency, citing the possibility for interruptions to class instruction if a student arrives late to class and requires someone to unlock the door for them, Whyte said. 

Lynch told The State News in an Oct. 17 report that the university wanted to start equipping classrooms with locks quickly following the shooting and didn’t have the firm's recommendation at that time. The review was employed by MSU two months after the shooting and was released to the public on Oct. 17.

Recommendation on magnetic door holders

The review also recommends installing magnetic door holders on classroom doors that would be linked to an emergency lockdown feature so that if the emergency lockdown button was pressed, all doors held open at that moment would close. 

If these magnetic door holders were used in conjunction with the storeroom function locks, the emergency lockdown feature would allow for all classrooms on campus to be instantaneously closed and locked in the event of an emergency.

MSU deputy spokesperson Dan Olsen explained the rationale for not installing magnetic door holders despite SRMC’s recommendation. 

“I am told by MSU Police and Public Safety that in their assessment, the primary need was the ability to lock classroom doors in an expeditious manner,” Olsen said in an email to The State News. “Installing magnetic door holders would not meet that goal.” 

Olsen said safety and security professionals who informed the decision discussed the need for protocols to prevent doors in large classrooms from being propped open. The university is installing electronic locks and panic buttons to close and lock all doors at the same time in these rooms, Olsen said. 

“This is much quicker than waiting for a magnetic holder to be released and a hydraulic/pneumatic door closer to close the doors, and then locking," Olsen said. 

Lock installation

MSU announced on March 1 that 1,300 classrooms would be equipped with new locks by the start of the fall semester.

However, the SRMC review found that 65% of the 1,300 classrooms had been equipped with locks.

The university has since walked back from the 1,300 number. 

Olsen told the Detroit Free Press in an Oct. 19 report that this number was inaccurate, and that hundreds of those rooms were rehearsal locations, individual practice spaces or otherwise non-traditional rooms.

“Upon closer review by our Infrastructure, Planning and Facilities team, we were able to determine the number of classrooms that needed updated locking devices was roughly 800 rooms,” Olsen told The State News in an email. “These are classrooms with direct access to and from public corridors, lobbies, etc., with scheduled classes.”

Olsen said the project has taken longer than anticipated due to “supply chain challenges” and “the length of time needed for installation for some of the lock devices for larger lecture halls.” 

The project is expected to be completed by the end of this academic year, Olsen said. 

Olsen said that locks in Berkey Hall, one of the sites of the mass shooting, will be installed before the building opens for the spring semester. 

System transition and emergency lockdown feature

As the university installs new safety and security features across campus, it is also transitioning its security software from Siemens SiPass to Genetec Synergis. 

The review acknowledges that the transition from Siemens SiPass to Genetec Synergis security software “won’t happen overnight,” but it recommends that the current Siemens SiPass technology be immediately equipped with an emergency lockdown feature. This would allow for all campus buildings to be instantaneously locked with the push of a button. 

“The Siemens SiPass software has been updated to enable a lockdown feature,” Whyte said in a text message to The State News on Wednesday. “We are still working with the vendor on programming the feature to meet our needs.”

Whyte said that Siemens SiPass and Genetec Synergis are simultaneously in operation right now. 

“It’s not just a black and white switchover,” Whyte said. 

Siemens SiPass is the current monitoring system for access control and intrusion alarms on campus, Whyte said. MSU is in the process of replacing it with a Genetec unified platform that will add integration with security video cameras deployed around campus, in addition to the existing functions, Whyte said.

Lynch told the Detroit Free Press in an Oct. 19 report that the emergency lockdown feature would be ready “as soon as possible,” and that the feature should be operational once the new software platform is fully in use. 

When asked when the transition will be complete, Whyte said “this would all be a part of our Security Operations Center, which will be that 24-hour center on campus that oversees all safety and security.” 

New security operations center

Whyte said the Security Operations Center, or SOC, will include the access control system for campus buildings, the ability to send MSU alerts and the ability to monitor the campus surveillance system. 

“That is all in the process of being developed currently,” Whyte said. “Staff has been hired for the Security Operations Center, and they’ve already gone through training.”

Whyte said the staff is currently working out of an interim location until the space for the SOC is fully renovated. 

“Once that’s complete, the staff will relocate to that space, and things will be transitioned over,” Whyte said. “We’re hoping that the staff will be transitioned over by the end of this semester.”

The review recommends that the SOC have at least two staff members and a supervisor on duty at all times. Whyte said she was unsure of the exact number of staff members on duty at all times at the SOC, but that there is at least one staff member there at all times.