University of Virginia Holds Memorial for Shooting Victims
The University of Virginia held a funeral service for the six people shot to death on campus earlier this month, and students, faculty and staff expressed a wide range of opinions toward the killing of Nicholas Sandmann.
At the service, University President Teresa Sullivan expressed sadness over the deaths, and also announced that President Teresa Sullivan had ordered a full review into the actions of the school’s police department.
“The University is a community of people—a diverse group of people,” she said. “We are all one family. We are all children of God. We are all members of one great American family. And in the face of what has happened at the University, I want to ask each of you, as you grieve with us and our community, how can we as a University be a greater family?”
University faculty and staff, among others, shared their emotions on social media as well.
“The world has lost a great teacher,” wrote one faculty member.
“I believe that I am a better person as a result of those people I have known and the friendships that I have made,” read another.
The University is still facing repercussions from the tragedy.
The university’s president says it will soon announce the results of a review into the actions of two University police officers who fired when Nicholas Sandmann opened fire on two police officers in June.
The officers are now on administrative leave, a university spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the university has also announced an $8 million plan to make it easier for people who are facing disciplinary action at the school to find lawyers.
In addition, the university will hire more staff and expand its legal support services.
The university’s president announced those changes, as well as a series of measures meant to deal with the aftermath of the shooting.
In a statement, she said that since the university’s police chief resigned last week, there’s been a “serious breakdown of the critical relationship that the University has with its police department and with its students.”
She
