In memoriam: IU event remembers year’s student deaths

Above the murmur of voices, the sounds from a string quartet filled the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union. The music was the beginning of the first student remembrance event, which honored the 10 IU students who died during the current academic year.

Among the students, parents and community members were Eric and Marilyn Behrman, whose daughter Jill was abducted 11 years ago. The Behrmans helped to organize the event with Karen Burnett, who brought the idea to IU. Burnett’s daughter Kari was a 19-year-old Purdue University student when she was killed in a car accident. Burnett said she has attended every student remembrance event at Purdue since and wanted to bring a similar event to IU.

“As a parent, it meant a lot to me that she was recognized, that the university acknowledges the fact that my daughter was important to the school,” Burnett said.

Several speakers offered words of comfort from a podium behind a bouquet of white flowers with red carnations mixed in. To end the ceremony, the full name of each of the 10 students was read aloud. Attendees then crossed the hall to the University Club where they continued to offer support and share memories.

“It’s really powerful when you see the University stop and pause,” said Jackie Daniels, who works for IU and attended the event. “It’s really touching.”

The event was a chance for people to come together and share memories, Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith said.

Burnett said the event is almost a type of closure because her daughter started a college career that she expected to finish, but instead Burnett said she found herself cleaning out a dorm room and receiving reimbursements for tuition and Kari’s parking tag.

“I don’t want the money. I want my kid to still be going to school,” Burnett said.

The Behrmans said they agreed and added that everything changes into a new normal, making everyday things such as getting the mail different. The Behrmans said they still receive mail in Jill’s name, even though it’s just junk mail.

“It’s her name, her address,” Marilyn Behrman said. “It’s supposed to be for her.”

She added that when she hears about a student death, she often feels she should reach out to the family so they know people notice the absence of their student, even on a campus as big as IU.

The remembrance event provides a way for parents to meet and share with each other and surviving students, Eric Behrman said. He added that he likes to keep in contact with Jill’s friends as they grow up, although to him Jill will always be 19.

In the University Club, a group of students gathered around a table to look at photos on a laptop, and another group stood around a table to look at photos of Brian Macken, an IU student who died in January.

His parents, Laura and Tom Macken, traveled from their home in Connecticut to be at the event and spent time talking with their son’s friends and meeting other parents who offered words of comfort.

Laura Macken said she was especially touched during the ceremony by Chancellor Ken Gros Louis’ words about honor and tradition at IU.

She added that Brian’s youth hockey jersey was being retired at the same time as this event, but she and her husband knew they needed to come to IU for Brian.

“We’re really happy that we came here today,” Laura Macken said. “We felt our place was here.”