Anxious MSU students return to class a week after shooting: 'There's no way we're ready'

Marissa Long had a big cup of coffee, a pastry, her laptop and a book on her table at a coffee shop near Michigan State University's campus Monday. After all, the 54-year-old from just outside Grand Rapids didn't know how long she'd be camped there.

Long's daughter is a sophomore at MSU and is among the tens of thousands of students returning to class Monday one week after a horrific shooting terrorized campus, killed three students and wounded five other students.

"She's very anxious about going back to class, so I told her I'd take the day off work and hang out in case she needed me. She stayed at home until this morning and I drove her here," Long said midmorning. "She's texted a few times to say she's struggling here and there, but making it through. She said it's really weird to be in class. Everyone just is on edge and not really sure what to say and do."

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Many on campus, including the editorial board of the student newspaper, have said they weren't ready to return to class Monday, one week after a shooting that left Arielle Anderson, 19, of Harper Woods, Alexandria Verner, 20, of Clawson, and Brian Fraser, 20, of Grosse Pointe, dead and five classmates hospitalized. About 11 a.m. Monday, Sparrow Hospital officials said one student was in fair condition, two were in serious but stable condition and two remained in critical condition.

The campus on Monday morning was a bizarre mix of the normal and the incongruous.

Students flowing out of a classroom building had earpods in and fingers flying across screens texting friends while somehow avoiding running into each other. But when they hit a nearby intersection, the crowd stopped, with many looking over at a woman holding a sign that said "Spartan Strong" on one side and "Big Sister Hugs" on the other side.

Signs were posted all over offering messages of support from "Welcome Home Spartans" to "Your Feelings Are Valid" in addition to "Spartan Strong."

Parking lots were full, but the sidewalks were mostly empty, except for a sidewalk by the Rock, the spiritual center of campus, where a memorial to the victims has been established. A long line of students snaked past tables full of snacks and a group of moms held signs offering hugs to anyone who needed one.

Todd Williams, a junior from Lansing, stood in front of the Rock for several moments Monday morning.

"I just wanted to come here and offer my respects," he said. "I still can't believe this is real — that this happened on my campus. I can't believe we're supposed to just go back to class. There's no way we're ready for that."

He had a class Monday afternoon and didn't know whether he was going to go to it. "I don't think I'll know until it's time," he said.

Several students who had classes Monday morning told the Free Press the classes they had were more about just being together than about anything academic.

University officials knew it would not be business as usual on campus Monday.

"No one thinks we are coming back to a normal week," MSU interim Provost Thomas Jeitschko said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. "One of the things that is important for us to recognize is that coming back together will help us. We know that everyone heals at their own pace and in their own manner."

MSU has spring break starting March 6. Officials said they didn't want to keep students out until after that week.

Experts told university officials that "coming back together as a community is important for healing as a community," Jeitschko said.

Faculty have been encouraged to modify syllabuses and to not try to make up time lost when classes shut down for a week after the shooting. They also are working with students to arrange hybrid class sessions or modify paper deadlines if students need it.

Long said she's not sure how MSU's students will make it through the next few weeks, but is glad to see all the support being offered around campus.

"I can't imagine what (my daughter and her friends) are going through," she said. "It's going to take them a long time to heal."

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj