Brown students return to campus for first time after shooting
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — The Brown University dorm rooms opened for the 2026 spring semester on Saturday.
As students began to return to campus, the tragic shooting in December that killed two and injured nine still loomed large.
"I've always enjoyed like being back early," Jaideep Naik, a senior and teaching assistant at Brown University said. "But it feels really weird this semester."
"It's been pretty empty, like more than usual for TA camp, the campus as well," he said. "It just doesn't feel the same."
One student said he is excited to be back, even after December's tragic events, while a medical student at the university described the feeling on campus as "just really sad."
Students around Providence at other universities in the area said they can feel a difference too.
"We feel the difference. We feel like everyone hurting and how the whole community feels completely different," Paulina Zambrana, an international student at Johnson and Whales said. "I've talked to some Brown students about how they feel getting back, which is just recently this week. They just told me how everything feels completely different. Even if it's been weeks from the tragedy, it's just not the same."
A Rhode Island School of Design student said things felt "weird."
The new semester also brings new security measures.
Brown University Interim Vice President for Public Safety Hugh Clements unveiled new measures on Dec. 30 to better protect students on campus.
The new initiatives included expanding the school's blue light emergency phone system and surveillance camera network, requiring ID cards to access buildings on campus, and an "elevated and visible" police presence.
"I personally feel safe and I think that's because of like the increased presence," Naik says. "I've noticed most buildings I've walked into now have at least like some security guard or something at the front."
He noted that buildings he "used to like just walk into like without swiping, like the CS building for example, I have to swipe into."
"I'm more aware of my surroundings from now on. I try to keep my music down in case something happens," Zambrana said.
A RISD student noted that the two schools do not have a linked safety alert notification system, even though the campuses are so close to each other.
He said that it took over an hour to get a notification about the shooting on Dec. 13.
The notification only said there was police activity, not that there was an active shooter situation.
He said there was a petition to link the systems back in December.
He has not heard if the petition prompted any action to link the two systems.
