Following the recent shooting near the Florida State University Student Union, students are calling for immediate changes to campus safety. Specifically, the ability to lock classroom doors manually from the inside.
Meghan Bannister, a 22-year-old FSU student, was inside a classroom at the Huge Classroom Building (HCB) when the university issued an active shooter alert on April 17.
From her classroom window, Bannister could see the chaos unfolding near the Student Union just yards away.
Students trapped, no way to lock doors
“The SWAT team came to our classroom and escorted us out,” Bannister told CBS News Miami. As students took cover and attempted to barricade the room, panic set in when they realized the doors couldn’t be manually locked from the inside.
“Someone said lock the doors and the student standing at the door said, ‘these doors don’t lock,'” Bannister recalled.
In the aftermath, Bannister and a friend launched a petition demanding that FSU install manual locks on all classroom doors. The petition has since garnered nearly 31,000 signatures, drawing support from beyond the FSU community.
University responds to lock concerns
In response to growing concerns, FSU’s Office of University Communications issued a statement saying the school is “continually reviewing and assessing our security protocols, including evaluating door locks, to ensure the safety of everyone on campus.”
Senior Director Amy Farnum-Patronis confirmed that during the April 17 lockdown, doors in the HCB building locked immediately from the outside via the university’s centralized electronic system.
However, the debate over inside-accessible locks remains unresolved.
Florida International University Police Chief Alexander Casas weighed in, stating that while the idea “has merit,” it presents complications for open-access college campuses, unlike more restricted K-12 schools.
The discussion continues as students push for changes they believe could prevent future tragedies.
