A student's death sends the campus into shock. In the first few days, vigils and remembrance ceremonies are expected, followed by advocacy and events discussing the circumstances surrounding the death of the student.
It says a lot about our community that we continue to remember students years after their deaths, and we hope to see this continue. But a lack of public remembrance can also reveal blind spots in our community’s collective memory.
The fourth anniversary of Faith Hedgepeth’s death was Sept. 7, and it seems her death is not receiving the same honor we see in other corners. Even this newspaper did not report on it this year.
For those who may not remember, Hedgepeth was a junior at our university in 2012, when she was killed three weeks before her 20th birthday.
She was killed at an off-campus apartment during the school year. While some evidence has surfaced over the years, and an autopsy confirmed she was beaten to death, no one has been convicted of the crime.
We appreciate the efforts made by those who did remember the anniversary of her death. We should all look to do better.
We want to remember Hedgepeth today — simply that. We want to remember that she was a student here and had her time cut tragically short.
This board would like to extend our condolences to her family, and we hope the person responsible is eventually brought to justice.
We also hope to see the conversations around interpersonal violence, one of the suspected causes of her death, continue into the future.
