EAST LANSING, Mich. – Memorial items placed around campus following the deadly February shootings at Michigan State University are being collected Thursday to be preserved and, in some cases, repurposed.
Items like flowers, signs, candles and stuffed animals have been sitting in front of several MSU buildings and installments to remember those killed and injured in the Feb. 13 mass shooting. However, in the weeks following the shootings, those items have been deteriorating due to “harsh weather conditions,” university officials said.
Memorial items found on campus were being collected and processed beginning at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 2. The process was expected to take a few hours, and everyone was welcome to participate in the collection, according to the university’s office of Student Life and Engagement.
Flowers collected from campus will be preserved and turned into mulch, which will later be used to plant a memorial tree that will “serve as a reminder of the Spartans we have lost this academic year,” the office said. Other items collected “will be preserved by MSU Archives and the MSU Museum.”
In the days and weeks after the shooting, memorials were created outside of prominent locations on campus, including Berkey Hall -- where seven of the eight students were shot on Feb. 13 -- the Sparty Statue, and “the rock.” Since the tragic shootings, the community has been mourning the loss of three students who were killed: Arielle Anderson, 19; Alexandria Verner, 20; and Brian Fraser, 20.
Five other students were injured in the shooting and each were initially hospitalized in critical condition. One student has since been discharged and allowed to go home. Four of the students remain hospitalized, but only one of them is still in critical condition.
Students resumed classes, many on campus, one week after the shooting. However, Berkey Hall, an academic building, will remain closed for the remainder of the semester. The MSU Union, where Fraser was fatally shot, will also stay closed for now as officials work to “reopen the building in its proper form and at the appropriate time.”
Instructors can make accommodations for students who aren’t ready to return to campus as the semester continues. New security measures will take effect this month on campus for those who are still in East Lansing.
Read more: Michigan State University adopts new security measures after deadly shootings