TALLAHASSEE --- State university leaders are considering giving students training for mass casualty events and beefing up law enforcement on campuses in the wake of a mass shooting near Florida A&M University last month.
The extra security steps were raised as the State University System's Board of Governors on Friday advanced new rules for universities to participate in the School Guardian Program. The program allows school districts and charter schools to designate trained, armed personnel to respond immediately to active threats.
Before the vote on the rules, Board of Governor Ashley Bell Barnett said that since the shooting after the FAMU homecoming football game there has been an increased call for on-campus mass casualty training of students, faculty and staff “to assist students waiting on local law enforcement.”
Florida State University student body president Ian Seibert, the student voting member of the Board of Governors, added that, “There's a taste for students that want to be prepared for trauma response and trauma training in those exact moments.”
He added that not all students should be forced to have the training, but students needs to be involved in any plans to conduct such training.
Florida International University President Jeanette Nuñez said her campus and other schools work with local first responders and use the “Run. Hide. Fight” protocol for active threat and active shooter emergencies on campus.
“We are actively working on making sure that we are as prepared as possible,” Nunez said.
Board of Governors members raised concerns that local governments need to increase enforcement, claiming activity from surrounding communities threatens student safety.
“I know it's been an issue in Gainesville, with increasing numbers of students getting engaged by non-students near campus and I'm sure it's happening in other places as well,” said Board of Governors Chairman Alan Levine.
On Oct. 24, 12 people were injured, including six minors, in a shooting near Bragg Memorial Stadium following homecoming activities. A 15-year-old was arrested, but the investigation remains open.
FAMU president Marva Johnson credited local first responders and said the school has increased security but doesn’t intend to “build walls around us to exclude the community.”
She added the school has been strengthening security infrastructure with a $5 million investment from the state Legislature.
The guardian program, expected to go before the board in January for final approval and be in place this spring on university campuses, was established after the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 dead, including 14 children.
A new law passed earlier this year requires institutions to train faculty to detect and respond to mental health issues, adopt an active assailant response plan, adopt post-incident family reunification plans and imposes felony charges for discharging a weapon within 1,000 feet of a campus.
Also, records related to a student’s behavior, including threat assessment reports and student psychological evaluations, must transfer when the individual moves from K-12 school to a state college or university.
The expansion of the law gained traction after a shooting during the 2025 legislative session, where a shooter killed two people and wounded five others at Florida State University.
