The vigil at 5:30 for Minghui Yu attracted hundreds to Low Plaza today. Students from the Office of the University Chaplain handed
people candles and hot cider as they heard eulogies for the promising statistics grad student. PrezBo and Dean Pinkham admitted that they did not know Yu or his family personally, but offered condolences to all those whose lives he touched, while the Chair of the Statistics Department called Yu "an academic star." The Chair of the Graduate Student Advisory Council offered an Emily Dickinson poem and noted that graduate students lead "focused, detached and solitary lives" and could perhaps "be encouraged to draw closer to each other in our community."
Funds are being raised by Columbia University Chinese Students and Scholars Association to support Yu's family and help them get visas to come to the US for the memorial services. Chaplain Davis closed with a prayer and consolation for Yu's family and girlfriend as the crowd observed a moment of silence.
-JJV and AMP
