Brandeis students walk out of classes, demand action on gun violence

Students gather around Chapels Pond for memorialPhoto/Mike Lovett

Hundreds of Brandeis University students huddled around Chapels Pond Wednesday at noon to memorialize the victims of the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and to demand action on gun violence in America.

The event was part of a nationwide initiative that encouraged students to walk out of classes Wednesday and march to demand change. 

The gathering at Chapels Pond was organized by a coalition of students called Brandeis Never Again. A mass of students lined the frozen, heart-shaped pond for one minute of silence for each of the 17 victims of the shooting, which took place exactly one month ago. At the end of the memorial the crowd chanted "Never again."

The event was overseen by two Brandeis students with close connections to school shootings. Amanda Kahn '20 is from Newtown, Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook mass shooting took place; and Joshua Moll '19 is from Parkland. Moll’s brother survived the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

"Nothing has changed in the five years since Sandy Hook, and it needs to," Kahn said after the memorial.

Moll said people need to come together and demand politicians represent them adequately.

"It's time for action. I'd like to prevent anyone else from needing to represent a place where a mass shooting happened," he said.

Brandeis Never Again plans to hold a series of future events and help organize Brandeis community members to participate in a march on Boston Common on March 24. Along with Moll and Kahn, the group of students who organized the event at Brandeis Wednesday included: Anna Badalment '21, Nina Bart '20, Jacob Edelman '18, Renee Korgold '20, Miriam Krugman '20, Anna Lou '21, Hayley Schulman '18, Julianna Scionti '20 and Sagie Tvizer '19.

Categories: Student Life

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