Updated Aug. 14, 2025, at 10:16 p.m.
The Michigan State University Board of Trustees plans to vote Friday on a permanent memorial honoring the victims of the Feb. 13, 2023, campus shooting.
The design proposal from Carlos Portillo and Jessica Guinto would repurpose an existing water feature in the Old Horticultural Garden near the Student Services Building.
The fountain currently found there would be turned into a black granite pond surrounded by white marble.
Patches of flowers would be available for visitors to pluck and place on three polished pediment stones honoring each of the three students who died in the shooting on February 13th, 2023.
The architects say water was an important element, citing its reflective quality and sound.
A committee tasked with planning the permanent memorial sought feedback from the community earlier this year on three proposed finalists.
The other two finalists would have created new spaces in Sleepy Hollow rather than repurposing an existing campus feature.
Portillo and Guinto say the Old Horticultural Garden already being easily accessible is part of why they chose the location for their design.
The renovation is expected to cost $3.2 million, $300,000 of which will come from the Spartan Strong fund while the rest is covered by capital reserves.
The Board of Trustees plans to vote on a resolution authorizing the landscaping change during a virtual meeting Friday morning.
