University of Michigan to resume classes after filming

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University professor Marco Diaz-Muñoz continues to have nightmares about what he experienced last Monday when a gunman walked into his class at Berkey Hall and killed two of his students in what he did. described as “12 minutes of terror”.

“These images torment me. The images of these two girls,” Díaz-Muñoz told The Associated Press.

Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner, both juniors, died that night, February 13. The assailant shot six other students during the attack on two buildings on the university campus. Brian Fraser was also killed and five other students suffered serious gunshot wounds.

Classes will resume Monday at the university of 50,000 students, although Berkey Hall, a university building, will not reopen at this time. School officials said on Sunday that the rapid resumption of classes made sense to complete the two and a half months of the spring term.

“Coming back together is something that will help us,” said Thomas Jeitschko, executive vice president of academic affairs, adding that professors will have a lot of flexibility in how they deliver their classes.

“We know that everyone heals at their own pace and in their own way. It won’t be possible to do it exactly perfectly,” Jeitschko said at a press conference on Sunday. “Returning to familiar spaces and interacting with familiar people is helpful in the healing and grieving process.”

Díaz-Muñoz said the university offered him another professor to teach his classes until the end of the semester.

“On the one hand, I want to forget everything. But, on the other hand, I think I have to help my students face reality,” Díaz-Muñoz said. “I think I have to help my students make sense of things. It won’t be like before, but something good has to come out.”

However, some community members are not ready. Members of the editorial board of The State News, the student newspaper, wrote on Thursday that they would not attend classes for now, saying they needed more time to heal.

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Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.