On Thursday, a Maroon Alert about an active shooter on Mississippi State University’s campus was sent out at 10:15 a.m. Every facility chose its own method to react to the emergency.
‘Maroon Alert’ is a voluntary emergency notification system that is installed to notify students, faculty and staff of any emergencies affecting the MSU community ranging from severe weather, burglary, to shootings on campus.
 To receive Maroon Alert texts, a member of the MSU family has to provide their cellphone number in Banner and opt-in to the service. Social media accounts and the University’s website are other ways to track updates from the emergency system.
A biology class in Harned Hall was in progress when the text containing ‘active shooter’ was sent out. 
According to Aishwarya Dikshit, freshman biological sciences major, the professor of the class asked students to go back to their residence halls after the alert. 
“Our professor told us to go back to our dorms as soon as possible. We left through the back door and that’s when we received the second message saying “Shooter spotted near Lee Hall. Seek safety immediately.” 
At that point, I was almost about to lose my calm. Lee Hall is just in front of the building I was in. But I knew that I needed to stay safe and be strong. Not only for myself but for my dear family and friends,” Dikshit said.
According to the ‘What to do guidelines’ on MSU’s emergency website, there is a recommendation on how to react in possible shooter situations.
The recommendation states, “In most cases, locking or barricading doors and staying inside a room is the desired response. However, use common sense and follow directions provided by the Maroon Alert system.”
“If a shooter gets into your classroom, you must rapidly make a judgment call as to the shooter’s intent – hostage taker or killer. There is no standard answer to this, and you must make a personal choice. If the gunman’s intent seems to be taking hostages, statistically, most hostages survive. However, if the gunman is obviously a killer, then your options are reduced to “get out” (flee) or “take out” (disarm or disable the intruder).”
McComas Hall is located on the south end of campus, which is home to the Department of Communication and John. E. Forde, associate professor and head of the department. 
After receiving the emergency alert, Forde walked through the lobbies, locked the front doors including classroom doors and barricaded a few rooms to make sure his building was safe from any intruders.
“We thought it was in the best interest of our students and faculty to lock all of the outside doors to restrict any additional potential entrance by anyone attempting to cause harm,” Forde said, 
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Simrall Hall decided to assemble everyone in the building into room 216 which is the main office of the department. Students who had locked themselves in all of the classrooms were escorted to Room 216 until the all clear was given. 
  The department declined to comment on the issue.
   Students and staff working in different rooms of the Mitchell Memorial Library were taken to the basement after securing most doors in the facility. 
 The Colvard Student Union had around 200 or more students during the time when the alert was sent according to an eyewitness. After the alert, people dispersed in the lobby adjacent to Panda Express and locked the doors, some entered rooms in the higher floor above and secured themselves. 
An Aramark employee who works in the student union said she is restricted to speak to the media and insisted for anonymity. “Everything shutdown and I was behind locked doors, but this is the center place of action on campus. I was terrified, the only emergency we know is severe weather,” she said.
Sid Salter, director of Communications at MSU said the university has drilled for shooters on campus for a long time.
“Certainly, we will review this incident and learn from it, we may adjust our policies in the future. I was actually in the classroom teaching when the alert went off and I was very impressed with the calm of my students and the fact that they knew how to react and what to do, there was fear obviously, but the majority of students knew what to do, reacted well and handled this.”
The cell phone policy on the emergency website states, “Many instructors require student cell phones to be turned off during class. It is acceptable to continue to do so. However, if such a policy is enforced, it is recommended that the instructor leave his/her cell phone on, in vibration mode, to enable emergency communication.”
Regina Hyatt, VP of student affairs, said the university will continue to review the events from last week. 
For more information about emergency guidelines, recommended policies and procedures, visit emergency.msstate.edu. Four scenarios (severe weather, bomb threat, smoke or fire, and shooter on campus/hostage taking) are described in detail on the website.