“MSU SHADOWS”

 

A series of essays….

BERKEY HALL ON THE CAMPUS OF MSU

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT UNION 

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

The girl walks the beaten path to her 8 o’clock class with hands freezing in her purple knit gloves and her stockinged feet numb even after they’ve been stuffed into calf-high, leather boots. She’s thinking how winter term is often brutal, weather-wise, but to have scheduled an early morning French class across campus was absolutely unwise, practically verging on insane. 

She looks up from her strained cadence to see other students marching to the same, slow beat, making their way to classes scheduled far too early in the morning. Snow begins to fall softly, brushing her exposed face with its delicate chill and directing her to pick-up the pace. 

One more turn to the right and the building she’s seeking will pop into view. The young grad-student, Ms. Hamlin, teaching this class, has seen the girl arrive late for class way too often this term but is kind enough to understand the logistics involved. However, today the girl pulls open one of the large, wooden doors of Berkey Hall two minutes before the stroke of eight and briskly clomps her way down the marbled hall to her classroom, three doors down on the left. 

Little did she know then that several decades later, the dark, unimaginable fate of two students attending evening classes in this very same hall would lead to their cruel, unjustifiable deaths. Why would she believe that such a horrific act would even be possible? 

Heading west down E. Circle Drive to W. Circle Drive, the fourth building down from Berkey Hall, the MSU Union welcomes her students with open arms offering a respite from the elements with comfortable sitting areas, bookstore, food court, and so much more. Not a place you would expect to come face-to-face with a shooter bent on extinguishing young lives. Yet, one such life was snuffed out by this gunman on the cold, winter’s evening of February 13, 2023.

These older buildings that make-up the brick and mortar history of one of the largest and most beautiful self-contained college campuses in the United States are treasures to behold. From their classic stone-arched doorways, brick facades draped with green ivy, and varied peaks adorned with cozy looking dormers decorating the rooflines, their architecture rivals the beauty of anything we see today! 

I have always loved my time on campus. Our wedding photographers held a photo shoot with me at Beal Botanical Gardens next to the main campus library. These photos became my engagement pictures from nearly fifty years ago. Lots of history there. 

Having both attended MSU as undergraduate students, Dan and I have invested a good deal of time walking the sidewalks and small pathways that crisscross the entire campus. My favorite area being old campus with Beaumont Tower, the circle of older residence halls off Beal Street and Abbott Road, and the MSU museum where Dan donated his grandfather’s MAC (Michigan Agricultural College) baseball uniform from his time on campus back in the early 1900’s when he was an engineering student who graduated in the Class of 1913.

That same young lady who chastised herself for having to take such an early French Language class in Berkey Hall years ago certainly passed through the shadows of her future husband’s grandfather many times. Lancie W. Dunn’s campus spirit may have given her an encouraging push every now and then in order to get her to class on time. I’d like to think so, anyway. 

After the years progressed, Dan and I would find ourselves enjoying picnic lunches along the grounds surrounding Beaumont Tower as we watched our two young daughters play within the shadows of this inspiring structure. Blink—and we are tailgating with them before attending football games in Spartan Stadium or walking together, hand-in-hand towards Munn Ice Arena to watch the Spartans slide into yet another victory on the ice. 

I remember the Red Cedar River meandered along in my backyard while living in W. Shaw Hall for the first two years of my MSU career. How fortunate I was to live in such a centrally located dormitory on campus. It wasn’t until I moved out to Twyckingham Apartments located on S. Hagadorn Road on the extreme eastern edge of campus that I experienced class scheduling difficulties. An eight o’clock French class was the only time slot that happened to work with my class load that term! 

Following all of the time we spent on campus with our girls and all of the stories and good times we created throughout the years, it was inevitable that both girls attended and graduated from Michigan State University, their blood running green as it continues to do so today.

We are among the people who shiver in disbelief from the actions of this one man. Leaving five more students shot and in critical condition during his rampage through Berkey Hall and the Student Union, this coward of a man decides to walk off campus in the direction of Lansing. If it is true that he ended his own life when confronted by the authorities, his cowardliness reached its peak and so many now must suffer for it. 

Eight families, an entire campus of students, MSU faculty and administration, law enforcement and first responders, the City of East Lansing, the State of Michigan, the United States, the entire world…..suffer from this callous, horrendous act of violence.

I wish the past would invite me back to rectify a thing or two; disallow the existence of those who believe in the utter destructiveness of gun-power and how it is so necessary, in their feeble minds, to use it against their fellow humans. Sick. How important it is to make the changes necessary through legislation and to never misinterpret the words of the Second Amendment, again. 

In the meantime, may these student’s deaths help to serve a greater purpose and never be forgotten in the interim. DO NOT FORGET THEIR SACRIFICE!!! The news media has already shifted to many new stories about George Santos, a liar and unabashed cheater, with only a blip dedicated to the massacre on State’s campus this past Monday night. We cannot forget them and how this senseless act has effected all of us! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! We must keep our focus on why these young lives were taken away from us and the changes we need to make in order to never repeat this heinous act.

Our hearts bleed green today…

In 1928, Bernard Traynor, a line coach for the football team, composed the music and lyrics, to MSU’s Alma Mater, MSU Shadows. On April 21, 1949, the students of MSC (Michigan State College, at that time) voted to adopt this song as their  Alma Mater.

MSU Shadows, Arranged by Joshua Davis

Lyrics: 

Copyright © 2023 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved