The Justice

A student writes a note to students and faculty at Virginia Tech during Brandeis' vigil last Tuesday.

"Peace, salaam, shalom": These three words echoed repeatedly throughout the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium Tuesday as several members of the Brandeis community sang and prayed in memory of the 32 people slain by a gunman at Virginia Polytechnic Institute just the day before.

The campus shooting, the worst massacre by a single gunman in United States history, has generated an outpouring of support from across the country, and campus members contributed to the effort in several ways this week.

The Brandeis Chaplains held the Tuesday night vigil in Shapiro; the Student Union created a memorial consisting of a sheet of paper with encouraging messages from the community, and sent it to Virginia Tech this weekend; University President Jehuda Reinharz urged the campus to participate in a moment of silence Friday as the rest of the country mourned the deceased; and the Brandeis chapter of Zeta Beta Tau raised money which the fraternity will give to those affected by the tragedy.

Reinharz said on Tuesday, "Unfortunately this is not the first time that we have come to mourn and grieve as a community," recalling the 2001 campus gathering following the World Trade Center attacks.

"This is not a time to lay blame, to point fingers: That will come soon enough," he said.

He said after the event that he felt "very proud" of the Brandeis community for its response to the tragedy, adding that the gesture of showing up to the vigil was wonderful despite its short notice.

Reinharz said that many students and others on campus think to themselves, "I could have been there," and that this kind of incident could happen anywhere.

"I think the people at Virginia Tech… they feel the kind of support that's coming from all across the country," he said.

Bobby Geiman '08, ZBT's president, said his chapter began to raise money after the incident occurred and will continue to do so this week. They initially set a goal of $500 to add to ZBT's national gift to the "Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund," a foundation formed by Virginia Tech to aid victims and those affected with grief counseling, memorial services, communication and comfort expenses.

Brandeis' chapter doubled its goal and has raised over $1,000 for the fund. Geiman said his group will contact around 20 national ZBT chapters to collect their donations, and then send the combined total to Virginia Tech.

"Someone had to do something," Geiman said. "[Virginia Tech] is a college: it's different than Brandeis, but it's still a college."

Several students had strong feelings about Monday's tragedy. "I appreciated what [Reinharz] said about supporting each other in the community all year round, not just in times of tragedy," Aiko Nishioka '08 said.

One of the many students who signed the memorial set up by the Union shared Nishioka's reasons for doing so.

"I feel like every thought counts," Jonathan Cohen '08 said. "Even if you're one person in what will hopefully be a huge wall, I hope that some will see it and feel better because of it."

"It's a tragedy for anyone, not just those in academia, but everybody in this country," Rajiv Ramakrishnan '10 said. "These people went to class, they came to a place to learn and to have this happen: It makes you appreciate life."



-Lital Shair and Miranda Neubauer contributed reporting to this article

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