MSU students pushing for safety changes in wake of tragedy

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Students at Michigan State University are calling on the school to implement more safety measures on campus after the death of Brendan Santo.

Related: Family of Brendan Santo pushes for changes, safety on MSU campus

Maxim Jenkins, a member of the student government, is drafting a bill to make that happen.

“I don’t think it’s feasible to say you’ll stop this from ever happening again,” Jenkins said. “I think the best thing you can do is try and make sure -- you make prevention more of a goal and something to strive for.”

As the MSU community mourns the loss of Brendan Santo, Jenkins has been hard at work with one goal in mind-- making campus safer. He says a bill he’s drafting would make that happen.

Jenkins, as General Assembly Representative for the Associated Students of Michigan State University, is working with student body government to draft a bill that addresses student safety concerns in the wake of Brendan Santo’s death.

“Students do feel unsafe,” Jenkins said. “Especially at night. A lot of students will say, ‘I want to walk with a friend, I don’t feel safe walking alone at night.’ Or as a pedestrian I don’t feel safe especially when I’m walking along the roads.”

Some of the safety measures on the bill include increasing lighting, adding more railings, adding danger signs near the Red Cedar River and adding floating devices near bridges and quay sides.

Once the drafting process is done the bill will be sent to one of MSU committees. If given committee approval, it will head to the General Assembly where it will pass or be rejected.

“Once it goes from there it’s what we like to call an advocacy bill,” he said. “So, we will be advocating to University administration to really just put funds and planning in any related departments on the task, to really get on this and focus on making safety improvements to pedestrian infrastructure.”

Whether or not it passes, Maxim says student safety concerns are worth fighting for.

“With topics such as this one, it’s important to remember that the reason we’re talking about this is because somebody died and something really tragic happened,” Jenkins said.

News 10 reached out to Michigan State University. In a statement they said they are working with university partners and the MSU community to improve campus safety measures -- adding they share they share the goal of having a safe campus.

Related: Michigan State University Police release public safety app

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