But KOMU 8 found students could easily get in and out of their residential halls.

"Basically this is a red securing drill. So what that means is that we're securing the whole hall from any sort of threat that might be in the hall," said Brandi Herrman-Rose, MU Department of Residential Life.

While the red alert closed the doors on any outside threats, the students held the key. While under lock down four students walked right through the front door.

"They can get in with their student IDs. We tell our students all of the time that they need to be cautious if there's a red securing going on. Really, anytime the hall is locked they need to not be letting people come in behind them. That's hard for students to do sometimes," said Herrman-Rose.

There were many opportunities for other people to walk right into the dorm during the red alert.

"Just from when I hear things in the news or read the paper, it's like right after something like that happens there will be a big security hike," MU student Nick Straatmann said.

If a real threat occurred on campus, you would think those inside would be locked in and those outside would be locked out. That's not the case.

"If they would like to come into the hall, they certainly can do that with their ID. Now should there be some kind of situation they would have to use their own prudence to decide if that was a good situation or not," said Herrman-Rose.

In the case of a real lockdown, any student living on campus, including a shooter, could walk into the dorm using a student ID.

"Just because Mizzou is Mizzou, and it's a good school, doesn't mean it can't happen to our school," MU student Tatiana Mckinney said.

In the case of a real lockdown, students have the power to lock a threat out. Both the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois shooters were students on the campus. Giving student's discretion of whether to stay in or out during an emergency could put the entire dorm at risk.