Michigan State University President Kevin M. Guskiewicz sent an email to students and staff this afternoon providing updates on plans for spaces at Berkey Hall and the MSU Union.
Both buildings were sites of the Feb. 13 mass shooting that took the lives of three students and injured five. The attack at the Union occurred mainly in the food court, and the attack at Berkey took place in a classroom space on the first floor of the building's north wing.
In the email, Guskiewicz said these spaces would be open for the upcoming fall semester. The MSU Union’s space, which was once the food court, will reopen the week after Labor Day and Berkey Hall’s first floor will open by the first day of classes on Aug. 26, he said.
"(I recognize) the resilience of our students, faculty, staff and alums as our university community continues to heal after the violence MSU experienced on Feb. 13, 2023," Guskiewicz wrote. "I remain committed to supporting Spartans as they navigate their individual healing processes, so I want to provide an update on the spaces... that have remained closed to the public since that day and on our campus plans for Feb. 13, 2025."
Here is how these spaces will look as the project advances, according to the email.
Berkey Hall
Guskiewicz said the reopened north wing of the first floor will no longer house classroom spaces. The specific location where violence took place will be renovated into “an open space for individuals to gather, engage and reflect.”
The other classrooms on the floor will also undergo a change.
“The remaining classrooms in the wing have been transformed into small-group meeting rooms, a reflection room, single-occupant accessible restrooms and a personal health room,” Guskiewicz said. “The College of Social Science will use some of that space for offices providing student services.”
The MSU Union
The space that was formerly the food court at the MSU Union will be renovated into a reflective space, as well. As of right now, Guskiewicz said, there are no plans for academic programming to take place within this space.
Additional updates
As outlined in the email, both of these spaces are shifting to being focused on socialization, engagement and reflection. MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant said a key change to the space within the MSU Union is the removal of the kitchens and the addition of more tables and open space to gather.
“Most of that space is just going to be open,” Guerrant said. “There’ll be tables— you could bring food in, but they're not going to be serving food still.
The layout for Berkey Hall would look similar to that of the MSU Union, but confined to a smaller space, Guerrant said. She added that the office spaces President Guskiewicz mentioned in his email were likely only temporary.
“It will be open lounge space— again, tables, some couches,” Guerrant said. “They're not going to make any offices there— maybe maybe some temporary (office) space, but really it's going to be an open, congregating, reflective type of space.”
In addition to these plans, Guskiewicz said classes won’t be taking place on Feb. 13, 2025, and things were moving along with the permanent Feb. 13 memorial.
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“The Feb. 13 Permanent Memorial Planning Committee has gathered feedback from many across our campus to create and distribute a request for proposals for a permanent memorial,” Guskiewicz said. “I want to thank the committee, MSU’s National Charrette Institute and our Office for Resource and Support Coordination for all their efforts on this initiative to properly memorialize those we lost and those impacted on that day.”
Safety of anyone on campus is Guskiewicz's “first and foremost” priority. As someone who’s stepping into the role of MSU President after Feb. 13, he said, much of his planning for safety measures has come directly from communication with the members of the MSU community.
“I’ve done a lot of listening on my campus Listening and Learning Tour,” Guskiewicz said. “I ended up with about 52 stops on that Listening and Learning Tour. For most of those, if not all of them, we had a conversation around this, “What is important to you? How can we ensure a safe and welcoming campus community?” That’s informed a lot of how we’re moving forward.”
Guskiewicz said he has also spoken to some of victims' family members.
As a result of input from these community conversations, the SafeMSU App will be receiving some changes, he said.
“It’s being changed for the start of the semester in terms of ensuring that cell phone numbers are all entered in— (safety alerts) used to be an opt-in… granted, they can turn it off, but I'd like the starting place to be that everybody is entered into that and that it's in fact the default," Guskiewicz said.
More sophisticated cameras and an updated emergency center had also been installed over the last few months, Guskiewicz said.
He added that he is aware of the fact that not everyone may agree with these updates and security decisions.
“I recognize that there are differing opinions about the level of safety measures that have been taken,” Guskiewicz said. “I'm going to continue my Listening and Learning Tour and learn from members of the community where they think we can do better. I'll be there to listen and do everything I can to try to put the measures in place so that they can feel safe.”
Guskiewicz acknowledged that his work isn’t done.
“We've got a ways to go, but we're making progress,” Guskiewicz said. “...There's always going to be room for improvement, and it'll be a top priority of mine.”
