One week after Morgan State University was struck with a tragic shooting that left multiple people injured, the school’s president is proposing the building of a wall.
MSU President Dr. David K. Wilson told students and faculty at a town hall that the school’s leadership plans to build a wall around most of its northeast Baltimore campus, with security personnel at entrances and exits. It would cover approximately 90 percent of the campus and “eliminate unfettered access” according to Wilson.
“We’re doing this, let me be clear, not to keep out our neighbors and our community writ large; we are doing it to keep out the bad actors,” Dr. Wilson told the audience.
Wilson hinted at limiting access to the campus at a news conference on Friday.
“We are an open campus in an urban environment,” Wilson said. “Unfortunately, going forward, Morgan State will have to look at closing, even more significantly, ingress and egress opportunities to the campus.”
This announcement comes in the wake of the shooting that took place on Oct. 3 during the school’s homecoming celebration. Five people were shot — four of them were Morgan State students. No arrests have been made in the shooting, but police did release a video showing several people walking in a grassy area and classified them as ‘persons of interest.”
As for Morgan State University itself, the school says the proposed wall is one of several measures it’s taking. Other plans include installing more metal detectors in campus buildings, exploring weapons detection technology, increasing police patrols and building additional security guard booths. These changes will cost approximately $22 million.