As students were grieving the loss of their classmate, teammate and friend, they wished the administration would do more.
By Allison Joyner
Last week, Clark Atlanta University (CAU) President George French declared a wellness week in reaction to last month’s shooting death of Jatonne Sterling.
“As we continue to mourn the tragic loss of our beloved CAU family member, we felt it appropriate to refocus on commemorating his life through initiating a reflective mental health week,” French said in a statement.
On Feb. 28, Sterling, 20, was found dead near the AUC Catholic Center after 1:30 p.m. He was a Chicago native and a member of the baseball team. A few days later, the Atlanta Police Department arrested Keontay Holliman-Peoples for his death.
Our hearts and prayers go out to the family, friends and teammates of our student Jatonne Sterling. Please keep his family and the entire CAU community in your prayers. #WeAreCAU pic.twitter.com/OVrP4QW8bq
— Clark Atlanta Univ. (@CAU) March 1, 2023
Students and other CAU community members received an email eight hours later describing the incident. Classes resumed the following day, but most through a bereavement day would have been appropriate.
“I do not understand why people were able to walk around and have everything go on like it was a normal day,” said Lavonia Bobo, a master’s student at CAU. “That was confusing to me. Why didn’t we have a shelter-in-place or a lockdown and why did the information come out so late at night?”
On the day of Peoples’ arrest, the school’s Student Government Association hosted a candlelight vigil for all Atlanta University Center students to attend. Still, there was no official day of mourning.
Before the Historically Black institution distributed the email, another email was transmitted to notify that the campus was on shelter-in-place due to shots fired a few blocks from where Sterling died.
“A student was murdered on campus and…
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