Rutgers University Silent Student Vigil Remembers Tyler Clementi

The New York Daily News has an early report on the silent vigil held Sunday evening in New Brunswick, New Jersey at Rutgers University, at the centre of Bower Common to remember 18 year old Tyler Clementi and to condemn the cowardly, hateful actions that precipitated the young man commit suicide, leaping from the George Washington Bridge September 22nd, three days after his roommate, Dharun Ravi and an accomplice Molly Wei secretly steamed online a sexual encounter between Clementi and another man. Hundreds of faculty members and students stood silently in the rain, candles lit, forming a circle around a podium that read “Rutgers Reacts: Uniting for Healing, Peace & Social Justice.” University President Richard McCormick said that the vigil was “an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the values of civility, dignity, compassion, and respect for one another.” 19 year old Lina Mendez, a sophomore at Princeton University who attended Sunday’s vigil, said “I think we all want to show that even though we’re all on different campuses it feels very close to home,” who carried a sign that read “We Care.” Of Clementi’s death she said “It was horrifying. I would hope colleges take this as a sign. Homophobia is not just taunts and name calling.”