Some Boston-area universities are boosting security protocols and support for students during final exams in the wake of a mass shooting at Brown University.
The shooting at the Rhode Island school killed two students and injured nine others during a final exam review session on campus Saturday. The gunman remained at large on Tuesday, and authorities are asking for the public’s help in identifying a person of interest.
“We know the anxiety and deep sadness these events generate and feel them too,” MIT’s chancellor and vice-chancellor for student life wrote in a community update Sunday.
MIT said it will be increasing police presence on campus and referred students and staff to emergency preparedness training offered by MIT Police and the school’s emergency management division in cases involving an active shooter or violent intruder.
“The safety of the people on our campus is always a top priority,” an MIT spokeswoman said in an email. She declined to provide specifics of internal safety plans.
Boston University, which is in finals week, also declined to provide any details of enhanced security precautions, but a spokesman said in an email, “the safety and security of the BU community and our guests is our highest priority.”
Harvard University’s police department told student paper the Crimson it will boost police presence on campus and require card ID swipes for all campus buildings, including ones that are typically open-access, like the Science Center and Smith Campus Center in Harvard Yard.
A Harvard spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
Harvard senior James McAffrey told WBUR he’s still on campus and that students are feeling unnerved.
“The attack definitely hits close to home, given how close Brown is geographically, and how many people have friends at Brown,” he said.
Though the Ivy League university is located in another state, a mere 50 miles separate the city of Providence and the Boston area via I-95. Like Brown, many parts of MIT, Harvard and BU are integrated with the city, enabling the surrounding community to mix with the student population and some facilities.
Student anxiety over the weekend’s shooting has seeped into campus life, according to McAffrey. A review session for his economics class was moved to Zoom Sunday after some students were reluctant to attend in-person a day after the shooting, he said.
McAffrey also said some students have been calling for higher security on an anonymous online forums.
“It’s a scary time to be a student on a college campus, especially with a shooter still at large, sadly,” he said. “It’s just a real tragedy.”
The shooting has disrupted academic calendars in multiple schools. Brown canceled all remaining in-person exams for the rest of the semester. Other schools in Rhode Island have canceled all remaining in-person exams, including the University of Rhode Island in South Kingston and Providence College.
Beyond colleges, the private preK-12 Wheeler School near Brown canceled class and activities the rest of the week and opted to start winter recess early.
In an Instagram post late Monday afternoon, Wheeler Head of School Mark Anderson wrote, “As much as we want to be together and maintain a sense of normalcy, given our proximity to the tragic events of this weekend and the ongoing investigation, this is simply not a normal time for any of us, and we don’t feel it’s possible to have a normal school day right now.”
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This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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