Students place handwritten notes in a basket with messages to the victims’ families at the UNC shooting memorial held on campus. DM Photo | Logan Kirkland
University of Mississippi students gathered Thursday afternoon in the Labryinth adjacent to the Student Union to honor the memory of three Muslim, University of North Carolina students who were killed on Feb.10.
UNC students Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha and her sister Razan Abu-Salha were shot dead at a residential complex in Chapel Hill last week. The suspect, Craig Stephen Hicks, was indicted on three counts of murder and is scheduled to appear in court again on March 4.
The memorial was organized by the Muslim Student Association. Adham Hagag, president of the association, took inspiration from the memorials for Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha held at college campuses across the country. Hagag said he hoped the event would ensure people remember the three students.
Students visiting the memorial were invited to write notes and take roses in commemoration of the three. Munia Sowaileh, a second-year PhD pharmacy student and member of the Muslim Student Association, said the group plans to send letters written by those visiting the memorial to the families of the victims.
Junior political science major Jalen Neal is a Christian, yet he attended the event to pay his respects.
“I think it’s a tragedy that people are targeted because of their faith. That’s not what this country is about,” Neal said. “I will fight with them for their protection, for their opportunities and rights, just like mine.”
Tassniem Rashad, an electrical engineering Ph.D. student, said the shooting has not changed how she feels as a Muslim student.
“Individual acts do not reflect upon the whole world,” Rashad said.
Sowaileh said the Muslim community at Ole Miss is like any other group on campus. It is one that brings diversity to campus and holds events open to all – Muslim and non-Muslim.
Danny Blanton, director of public relations for the university, said with a student body as diverse as the student body that Ole Miss has, the university encourages students to exercise freedom of expression.
“We’re proud that we can support our students as they exercise these freedoms many other countries don’t enjoy,” Blanton said.
Members of the Muslim Student Association said the Ole Miss community as a whole has been accepting of the Muslim community.
“All of my experiences at Ole Miss have been positive,” Sowaileh said. “I have always felt at home here.”
