Court documents that Murray State tried to hide from public view show that university officials knew before the 1998 fire that alarms in Hester Hall were at times inaudible.

Louisville Courier-Journal reporter James Malone obtained the documents with the assistance of Gail Minger, whose son, Michael, was killed in the fire. Mrs. Minger settled a lawsuit against MSU last spring.

The documents show that just two days before the fire, a university official wrote requesting an upgrade in the alarm system. A year earlier, another official warned that the alarms were inaudible in some portions of Hester Hall.

Even with proper alarms and with sprinklers, this death might not have been prevented. Still, the disregard with which university officials responded to the potential threat is shocking. When parents send their children to a state university, they have a right to expect that basic rules of safety will protect them. At Murray State, in 1998, that didn't happen.