04/14/2026
Moments ago, President MacKinnon and his team sent the following message to all students, faculty and staff.
Dear students and colleagues,
We wanted to provide you with an update on the situation that developed on social media over the weekend. We can confirm that the individual who posted the comments was a student; they have been banned from campus and are subject to arrest should they return. Law enforcement and others have been in touch with the individual, and there is no immediate threat to our campus community. While still ongoing, the investigation has been referred to the Isabella County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
We also want to acknowledge that the statements made on social media felt threatening to students, faculty and staff – and that the lack of information from CMU led to confusion and fear.
Those fears and concerns are understandable, and we should have addressed them more appropriately. We learned a great deal from this incident, and we are revising our communications protocols so we can respond more effectively in the future.
CMU Police have defined processes and protocols for determining whether there is an active threat to life, health and safety; CMU has defined protocols in place for communicating in an emergency, when we initiate the Central Alert system. We have far fewer defined processes for how we communicate when there is a perception of fearful behavior without a direct threat, or when there are concerns about what can be communicated while remaining in compliance with the law.
Those aren’t excuses, and we can do better. In the days ahead, a team of university leaders will be meeting to discuss how we assess incidents like this and what we can do to alleviate concerns with accurate and timely information.
Every member of this university community deserves to feel secure as they come to work and attend classes. We appreciate the feedback you have shared with us, and we’ll share our updated communication practices with the university community when they are complete so you know what you can expect from us.
Sincerely,
Neil MacKinnon, Ph.D., CMU President
Mary Hill, Vice President/Finance and Administrative Services
Harlan Teller, Vice President/University Marketing and Communications