Last week, a night of celebration turned into tragedy at Tuskegee University’s centennial homecoming, a milestone that brought alumni, students and faculty together.
Students said the air was thick with school spirit, and the crowd swayed to the rhythms of the homecoming festivities, but as the evening unfolded, the sounds of celebration were abruptly replaced by sirens and chaos.
Attendees expressed that the vibrant energy that defined the event turned into confusion and fear, as gunshots rang throughout Tuskegee’s West Commons area, near the center of campus.
On Nov. 10, Sunday morning, a shooting took place on Tuskegee’s campus resulting in the death of a non-university individual and 16 injuries to the university students.
Marquez Cowins, a senior sociology major at Tuskegee from Atlanta, described the atmosphere after the step show as tense and unnerving.
Cowins said he left the event, stepped outside and the energy in the parking lot was immediately off-putting.
He recalled that as students walked to their car, they noticed a group of people suddenly running, followed by the sounds of gunshots ringing out.
“It felt like a war zone,” Cowins said. “There were hundreds of shots being fired, and I saw classmates fall to the ground after being shot. It was very traumatic.”
While news outlets initially reported one confirmed death, Cowins said that there were unverified reports of additional fatalities.
Eliana Key, a sophomore health sciences major at Tuskegee, said that students gathered around the West Commons apartment complex, enjoying the festivities. She recalled the moment when people began to panic.
“We were still like… gradually hearing about it [potential gunshots], so at first there weren’t that many people,” she said.
Key said a group of students, including herself and her friends, initially ran in response to rumors of an altercation, only to later return to the area when no real threat emerged.
It wasn’t until shots were fired that the situation escalated rapidly, and the group ran again, this time seeking refuge in an apartment.
“I just saw everybody running,” Key said. “At first, I was thinking… should I run again? But by the time that thought came in my head, that’s when you heard all the shots letting out.”
Key expressed concerns about the lack of security presence during the event and described the university’s police as terrible.
“They’ll come around when it’s a small party, but when you have thousands of people on campus, they don’t show up,” she said.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Key said that it took some time before any law enforcement arrived.
“I didn’t really see anything [in terms of police presence] until after everything was over,” she said.
As details of the shooting began to unfold, Tuskegee’s administration addressed the emotional toll on the community.
In a Nov. 10 statement, released just hours after the incident, the university emphasized the importance of mental health support, urging students to reach out to counselors or the student health center.
During a town hall meeting, Mark A. Brown, president and CEO of Tuskegee, met with parents, students and faculty during the session to listen to concerns and provide support.
Cowins said he felt dismissed and unheard when trying to voice concerns about the emotional trauma many students were experiencing.
He said Rolundus Rice, Tuskegee’s vice president of student affairs, suggested coping mechanisms that seemed out of touch with the gravity of the situation, including recommending that students read books to manage their emotions.
“When I was talking about the trauma, he asked me what book I was reading. It felt like he didn’t care about what we were going through,” Cowins said.
In addition to this, Cowins felt that the administration had been blaming students for holding an “unauthorized party” after the show, in an attempt to distance the university from the events.
He said the university tried to continue normal activities, such as holding classes and athletic practices after the shooting.
In an update shared on Nov. 14, Brown outlined several immediate actions being taken to both support the healing process and ensure the safety of the campus moving forward.
He said as part of the university’s ongoing response, classes have been canceled for the week to allow students time to focus on their mental health, and additional security measures are being implemented across campus.
Brown acknowledged the trauma students had experienced, saying, “Our students experienced a traumatic situation that I am sure will linger with them for a long time.”
He added that the university’s goal was to ensure students had the support they needed to “focus on their studies and finish the semester successfully.”
Brown also announced plans to hire additional security personnel, improve campus infrastructure and deploy up to 12 more officers immediately. In addition to this, the university plans to provide 24/7 patrols across campus starting Nov. 18 as well as infrastructure, including 400 more security cameras and metal detectors at key entrances.
Brown explained that these actions were part of the university’s efforts to provide a safer environment for students as they return to campus for in-person learning.
He further explains that the university will enforce restructuring campus entrances and adding electronic arms to restrict access, signaling that the campus would no longer be open to unauthorized individuals.
“This is a secure campus. That is a promise to our students, their parents, our faculty and staff,” he said.
In addition to physical security upgrades, the university said it’s introducing a new system app, RAVE, as part of its emergency notification system.
As part of this system, students will be required to have the app on their phones to receive real-time updates about campus safety, a move that was emphasized by Brown.
Brown said that while the university is taking strong steps to address security, it is equally focused on the emotional recovery of its community.
“The path to healing is not easy, but we will face it together as a community. We will not let this tragedy define us,” he said.
Copy edited by Camiryn Stepteau
