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PROVIDENCE, R.I (WBZ NewsRadio) — Brown University announced it is implementing new safety measures for the Spring 2026 semester following the deadly mass shooting on campus on Dec. 13.
Interim Vice President for Public Safety Hugh T. Clements Jr. released a letter to the community on Tuesday outlining safety and security changes being added to the campus.
“What happened on Dec. 13 should never happen again — at Brown or anywhere — and we must confront that imperative for our community with steadfast purpose,” Clements said in the release.
Clements, a former chief of Providence police, replaced Rodney Chatman who was placed on leave in the wake of the tragedy.
Those changes include transitioning all remaining buildings to card access entry, adding more blue light phone booths, installing additional security cameras, enhancing public safety training for emergencies and more.
“Our goal is not to create a campus defined by fear, but one defined by preparedness, vigilance and mutual care,” he said.
Read more: Brown University and MIT Shooting Suspect Found Dead In NH Storage Facility
This comes after President Christina H. Paxson announced last week that the school initiated three immediate actions amid its investigation of the incident, including an external After-Action Review and Campus Safety and Security Assessment.
“As we work to heal and recover, our primary focus is to nurture a thriving campus by attending to the psychological and social health of all members of our community,” Paxson said.
The deadly shooting earlier this month killed two students, Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, and injured nine others. Authorities found the suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a Salem, New Hampshire storage locker following a six day manhunt. They also believe he was behind the killing of an MIT professor two days after the college shooting.
WBZ NewsRadio's Brooke McCarthy (BrookeWBZ) reports.