Florida State University leadership changed course Saturday on a proposed Monday return to campus when students insisted that it was too soon after a gunman opened fire near the student union Thursday.
An initial announcement Saturday morning by university President Richard McCullough acknowledged the upheaval felt by the university community.
“Our hearts are heavy after the tragedy that took place April 17. We are grieving with the families and friends who lost someone they love,” the email said. “This has shaken all of us, and I want you to know: We are here for you. Classes and business operations will resume Monday, April 21.”
As students’ expressions of confusion and in many cases anger grew throughout the day — including the creation of a petition demanding excused absences for students — the university’s position evolved.
First McCullough clarified in a video statement Saturday afternoon that while classes are set to resume Monday, the school would “be flexible” and accommodating for those who don’t return to campus immediately. He didn’t specify how.
Then, Saturday evening, students received another email stating that although the university would “resume classes as scheduled on Monday, April 21,” students and instructors would have new options to accommodate those who aren’t comfortable with an early return.
All absences next week will be excused with no need to provide justification, the email said, and there would be remote options for some classes though likely not for those with in-person components such as labs exams.
NBC News heard from a number of students who said they didn’t feel safe returning to campus. Some described splintered doorframes and broken windows in multiple university buildings left by SWAT officers responding to the shooting. Others said they wouldn’t be able to concentrate for fear of another shooting happening just as they returned.
“I have classes that are right by where the shooting occurred and I doubt I will be able to focus,” said Madelynn Duggar, a junior who sheltered for three hours in a building a few doors from where the shooting took place. “It is very difficult to focus and take exams in the same places where days before you were barricading the door and making your peace with God.”
Phoenix Ikner, 20, an FSU student and stepson of a sheriff’s deputy, is currently hospitalized and in custody in connection with the shooting that killed two staff members and injured six.
Freshman Elizabeth Palmer said that every day she walks past the Oglesby Student Union — where the gunman opened fire on students and staff — and can’t imagine having being forced to walk by it again.
“Even though most of us weren’t physically at the scene, we all saw it,” Palmer said. “I can’t walk past the exact area where I saw a girl laying in a pool of blood. It’s traumatizing.”
“I think what’s causing students the most stress is the fact that everything is up in the air right now and we don’t know what to do with ourselves,” Palmer said.
Senior Jack Campi, faced with the original news that he was expected to return to campus on Monday, was in disbelief. Now he’s waiting to hear from his professors about how they plan on handling final exams with the latest guidance from the university’s president.
“Eight people went [to FSU] and it was a normal day, just like Monday might be a normal day. And they didn’t come home. [For] two that was their last day, they took their last breaths.”
“It’s essentially my home. It’s been my home, and someone walked into my home and killed people.”
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