After numerous student deaths, the SGA has decided to sponsor a memorial for students who attended Auburn University, and have now passed away.
The idea has been initiated twice before, and a student memorial was almost incorporated into the design of the Student Center in 2008, but the project was never finished.
"It's just something that came to light with all the visible deaths," said SGA President Kirby Turnage. "It's an area of campus we noticed that we don't have that a lot of our peers do. It will be a place to healthily grieve and gather in times like this."
Chris Osterlund, executive vice president of the SGA, was the primary proponent of the project and was the first to present the idea to the SGA.
"When I was in Nicaragua for spring break, I had a good group of very close friends who were grieving over Mary Beth (Goodner)'s death," Osterlund said. "While it was extremely saddening, I did notice the fellowship that was created there, and the ability to gather as a body was really healing."
Osterlund said he wanted a place at Auburn that would foster that kind of fellowship as well.
"What we really want to promote is a place where students can gather when there is a death," Osterlund said.
The project will be funded primarily through fundraisers and outside donations, but the SGA has voted to give $3,000 to start off the project.
"We passed a bill for $3,000 to get the program off the ground and started with materials that will contribute to the industrial design program and get them started with the essential materials they need," said SGA Vice President Vanessa Tarpos.
The entire project will cost approximately $500,000 and will be designed by Auburn industrial and graphic design students.
"This is a very expensive project that will not be paid for by student fees," Kirby said. "There's going to have to be some private fundraising and other revenue sources because this is not something we can fund out of the Student Activities Budget."
The monument is still in the planning stages and nothing is official yet, but a possible place it may be built is in Ross Square, the area with the Koi pond between Foy and Samford.
"If we have it in Ross Square we would have the monument and the landscape around it completely renovated," Osterlund said. "I would hope that when I graduate in May of 2013 we will have a definite place for it to be put and a definite design and we'd be looking to contract it out."
Osterlund has been looking into the creation of a memorial for eight months and has even talked to psychologists to see if the memorial would be beneficial.
The psychologists said the memorials are good because it allows student deaths to be mourned in a way that's both respectful and uniform.
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