Utah State students wear red in memory of slain U student
Colter Thomas wears red to support the University of Utah, who lost a student, Lauren McCluskey on October 22, 2018.
Two days after University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey was shot and killed on campus, college students all over Utah wore red and white, the U’s school colors, to show support for the school.
USU’s Student Association President Jaren Hunsaker said the idea was brought up in a group chat for the Utah Student Association, made up of student body presidents in all the Utah universities.
“We all reached out to the U’s president to ask if there was anything we could do to help and said we’re here for you and thinking about you,” Hunsaker said. “Weber State’s student body president said ‘We want to wear red for you,’ and everyone kind of hopped on that.”
Hunsaker said this was done last year as well when another University of Utah student was shot and killed just off campus in October of last year.
Iain Laurence Samantha Allen, Alison Greer and Savannah Cook saw the HURD encourage USU students on social media to wear red to support the University of Utah after the passing of Lauren McCluskey
“It’s really cool because all the student body presidents came together on this and if you go to their social media everyone is telling students to wear red,” Hunsaker said. “It’s small, but it’s a way to say we’re here for you and to support you.”
McCluskey was a senior track athlete studying communications at the U. According to the university’s statement, police discovered McCluskey’s body in a parked car outside an on-campus residence hall Monday night. Police followed the suspect, Melvin Rowland, off campus where he died from what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot.
The University of Utah set up a memorial fund and an online page to leave messages of support that can be found here.
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