From how prepared students feel to react to an active shooter scenario, to reactions to recent high–profile campus firings to whether campus transportation upgrades have improved walking and rolling around campus, reporters from JOUR 203 901 interviewed people around the Memorial Student Center, or MSC, Aggie Park and the Medical Sciences Library to ask how news-making national headlines affect students at Texas A&M.

A different set of reporters asked students if they knew about safety training videos and Campus Carry laws, how recent high-profile firings have affected classroom climate and how safe they feel walking, biking, scootering and driving after recent campus mobility upgrades.

The result is Campus Voices: Aggie News.

As of Sept. 10, there have been 24 college campus shootings and 23 shootings at K-12 schools in 2025. After Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a speech at Utah Valley University as part of The American Comeback Tour, eight Aggies were asked if they had considered what they would do in the event of an active shooter at Texas A&M. 

All eight agreed that recent headlines have made them think about an active shooter scenario on campus. 

“I’ve definitely thought about this, especially in light of the situation, and it makes me sick,” biomedical sciences senior Diana Almaguer said. “I have not heard a single professor or anybody really discuss this or so much as make a statement.”

General engineering sophomore Marc Schlaefer said he would check up on his friends if an active shooter was on campus, while business senior Elanah Sriram said discussions about the topic seemed to be “taboo.” 

“I think it would be nice if people discussed it, but I haven’t checked if they’ve actually sent anything out, but I know none of my professors have mentioned it,” Sriram said. “People are scared to make a statement on it.”

A&M System’s policy does not allow anyone to openly carry firearms on campus, but individuals who have a state of Texas-issued license to carry are allowed to carry concealed handguns.

Three of the eight students said they thought the majority of Aggies on campus were aware of the campus carry rules.

“I think so, but I also think a lot of people haven’t thought about that at all, and just, like, go about their own, like, business,” education sophomore Presli Quinn said. “They don’t mind, like, thinking into that.”

Five Aggies said they didn’t know what rules applied to open and concealed-carry firearms on campus. 

“I feel like a lot of people don’t even know, like, students are even allowed to have guns on campus, which I feel like is a huge safety risk,” psychology junior Victoria Aguero said. “[Because] what if you accidentally leave your dorm unlocked and someone comes in and takes it, and then it’s a bigger issue.” 

To support safety awareness, the university uses Code Maroon — an emergency notification system — and has a page dedicated to active shooters on campus. Additionally, there are safety videos made by the University Police Department. One video is titled “Run. Hide. Fight. Surviving an Active Shooter Event,” in which the UPD acts out how to defend against an active shooter.

Seven students said they were unaware of active shooter protocols and resources, including ecology & conservation biology junior Molly Coad, who said she had never seen nor heard of the videos. Deanna Utz, a faculty member and the textbook department manager at A&M’s Barnes & Noble College, said she was happy to learn that resources are available to students.

Business senior Eliana Frankenfield noted that A&M administrators might want to make sure this kind of information actually reaches busy college students.  

“I have no idea what the procedures are,” Frankenfield said. “It would be nice if this information were next to the mental health things and Title IX, just as a legal thing.”

Aguero said that to reach students, campus safety and active shooter information could be added to already existing classes, such as Hullabaloo U, through the Office for Student Success.

“I feel like since everybody takes their Hullabaloo classes, which I think is required for everyone, they could show the videos there just in case,” Aguero said. “Maybe even like a check-up, kind of like how professor evaluations are done every year. They could make it mandatory for freshman courses about violence awareness. It could even be a course on Canvas that students must complete so they know how to be safe.”

After a classroom video went viral on platform X, triggering two high-level removals, a firing and a resignation at Texas A&M, 21 Aggies were asked how they had been affected by events and what they might do in situations involving alleged faculty misconduct. 

On Sept. 9, former A&M senior lecturer Melissa McCoul was fired from the English department after former president Mark A. Welsh III said her instruction in a children’s literature class did not match the course description. The removal was prompted by a student-filmed video that went viral, showing a student in a disagreement with McCoul over the lecture content. The Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and the English department head were also removed from their administrative positions by Welsh on Sept. 9. Less than two weeks later, Welsh resigned

On Sept. 18, A&M System Chancellor Glenn Hegar announced an audit of courses at all 12 schools in the System. The audits are academic reviews to compare course syllabi and classroom material with official course descriptions. Although faculty and students have voiced doubts about what that would mean in practice, the reviews are intended to ensure professors adhere strictly to course descriptions, according to a statement released by Welsh prior to his resignation.

All 21 students interviewed said they felt professors may now be more hesitant to share opinions and beliefs in the classroom following recent events. Geology senior Steven Boll said he believed professors would change their teaching methods following recent headlines.

“I think a lot of professors will be more inclined to walk on eggshells, which is not exactly what you want at school,” Boll said. “You want to be able to have discussions … at the same time, you don’t want anyone inciting violence.”

Public health sophomore Madison Meyer said she thought professors are probably going to be more hesitant to share opinions, but said she didn’t necessarily see that as a bad thing. 

“When you’re a teacher, I think it’s OK to have your own beliefs and values; the way you go about it and the way you teach it is a big thing,” Meyer said. “It might be more beneficial for a lot of people when you’re teaching, you should be teaching the facts, not opinions.” 

According to Student Rule 24 in the Student Rules handbook, it is considered a violation of academic property to misuse, misrepresent or plagiarize another’s academic work. Students are not allowed to record professors or lectures without prior knowledge or consent. Only six of the students interviewed said they were aware of Student Rule 24 when asked whether or not they believed the student was justified in recording the professor and releasing it to be posted online. 

Biomedical sciences freshman Carly Miller said both the student and the professor should face repercussions for their actions. 

“I don’t think she should have been able to [record],” Miller said. “If the teacher is going to get fired for doing this, I think the student should face some repercussions for recording while she’s not supposed to.”

Texas A&M Transportation Services recently installed upgrades throughout campus as part of a major mobility project, including smoother roads, passenger drop-off zones, a wider street crossing for walkers and a centralized bus hub. Nine students offered their perspective on how the upgrades were helping — or not — with safety while walking, riding or rolling around campus. 

A team at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health identified data that showed one in four pedestrians reported a crash or near miss within the last year, while 8 out of 10 were hit by someone on a bike, e-scooter or skateboard on  college campuses. Nine out of 10 of those crashes resulted in an injury, according to the report.

Car, bike and pedestrian safety is an issue across Texas. On Sept. 4, residents advocated for increased bike safety measures after Mayor John Whitmire’s text messages revealed his influence on the removal of bike-lane protections within the city, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Economics junior Jeronimo Ruiz Ocampo, who lives off campus, said he travels around A&M using his electric skateboard. He said he has had more than one near miss with a car.

“I have, I think maybe two or three times,” Ruiz Ocampo said. “One of them, I actually got hit [by an SUV]. I barely got tapped, but I did get hit. Thankfully, I was okay.”

Patrick McGinty ‘15, said he no longer feels comfortable riding a bike on campus due to the increased frequency of accidents compared to his time here as a student.

“Even just a couple of days ago, one of the students in our college ministry got into an accident, so while I have seen the changes, I still think it can be dangerous if you are on a scooter or a bike,” McGinty said. 

The main issue McGinty said he is concerned about is the overall awareness of commuters, specifically with students being on their phones or being distracted while driving.

Management junior Ryan Lee, who uses both an electric skateboard and a moped to travel on campus, said he has noticed more bike lanes by the Memorial Student Center — or MSC — and Innovative Learning Classroom Building, but said that no matter how much A&M makes improvements, there’s no fixing human error.

“Texas A&M can only do so much,” Lee said. “They could add 50 more bike lanes, and people are still going to do whatever they want whenever they want anyway.”

Psychology junior Makaylah Luna and psychology sophomore Paige Bisontis agreed that it will be harder to improve safety due to students’ unpredictable behavior. They both pointed to bike and scooter riders, rather than pedestrians, as being at fault.

Half of pedestrians surveyed said they believe current infrastructure on campus inadequately separates walkers and cyclists, according to a 2024 study conducted by A&M’s Transportation Services.  

The university is planning a second wave of improvements, which will include a network of bicycle and pedestrian connections at Polo Road, Century Square and University Drive. Construction on Stallings Boulevard near the MSC will reconfigure traffic lanes to help the flow of pedestrians and wheeled devices, according to Transportation Services.

Kinesiology freshman Mia Torres said she thinks the rules for students using e-scooters, bikes and cars to actually use their respective lanes should be better enforced, rather than letting people go wherever they please.

“I would definitely make sure the bikers and scooters are actually using the lanes,” Torres said. “I walk most of the time [on campus], and they use the sidewalks still.”

Communication senior Meghan Gordon said she walks from the parking garage to her classes through Military Walk, but bikers and scooters use the sidewalks there, too, due to the absence of a bike lane — something she hopes will be added in the future.

Accounting sophomore Lauren McNulty and aerospace engineering sophomore Valeria Diaz agreed that the inner part of campus caters more to bikes and scooters than to pedestrians. Although both have noticed the new white and green crosswalks, McNulty said there is still room for improvement.

“There are a few places on campus I can think of where there is no crosswalk for pedestrians — it is only the bike crosswalks,” McNulty said. “I would reroute the flow of traffic in a few other areas that are highly congested, just so that the pedestrians feel safer, and then it minimizes the collisions of cars, pedestrians and other motor vehicles, as well.”