In a recent Student Government Association meeting, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Zachary Irish discussed the new safety regulations going into effect on campus.
On Dec. 13, 2025, a mass shooting occurred at Brown University in Providence, RI. The shooter, later identified as Cláudio Manuel Neves Valente, killed two students and injured nine others.
Brown is just thirty minutes away from Wheaton’s campus, and some Wheaton students are dual-enrolled in programs and classes on Brown’s campus.
Multiple individuals in the SGA meeting inquired if the college’s efforts to speed up safety precautions were in response to the shooting.
Irish explained to the group the importance of acting as a community on Wheaton’s campus, and that to ensure safety it is vital to look out for one another.
New precautions include the addition of external cameras around the school as well as speeding up the process of adding key card scanners to buildings currently without them. In addition, key card access will now be required to enter buildings such as Balfour-Hood Center and Clark Wallace Library after 5:30 p.m.
“The priority right now,” said Irish, “is to get card readers on the bigger buildings around campus.”
Emma Russo ’26 asked why the Wheaton administration never made a statement about the shooting, which kick-started a discussion.
“They haven’t said anything,” Russo noted, “but they’re doing something.”
Jay Taylor ’26 shared their experience as a Sandy Hook survivor about how the lack of transparency from Wheaton surrounding the tragedy at Brown was discouraging and difficult.
“We all see what’s happening,” they said, “we know a shooting happened.”
Taylor, along with others in the SGA meeting, explained that as students at Wheaton they wished there was more transparency from administration.
“We are adults.” Russo said, “We want to be treated like adults.”
Irish explained that both himself and Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Darnell Parker spoke to dual-enrolled Wheaton students on Brown’s campus on the night of the shooting to make sure everyone was okay and safe. From that point onwards, the administration focused on enhancing safety protocols on campus, meeting on Jan. 5, 2026 to discuss the matter.
According to Wheaton College President Michaele Whelan, who spoke to the Wire via email, Wheaton immediately contacted its students at Brown following the news of the shooting. “We were able to reach all Wheaton students enrolled in courses at Brown to ensure they were not on campus at the time and were safe,” she said. “We stayed in close contact with Norton PD for updates regarding the search for the shooter. Authorities indicated there was no known impact or threat to the Wheaton campus or surrounding area.”
Whelan also spoke on administration’s decision to not put out a formal response. “Our decision not to issue a campus-wide announcement was based on the information available to us at the time—specifically that there was no direct threat to our campus community,” she said. “We had largely concluded final exams, and most students had already left for the holidays, which further informed our assessment.”
“We strive to balance timely communication with care not to create alarm or circulate updates when there is no immediate safety concern or change in information.” Whelan continued. Recognizing the emotional weight of the situation, she encouraged any concerned community members to reach out to the Dean of Students Office or Human Resources for supportive resources, according to the email.