Tonight a group of students will take to the campus streets armed with flashlights and prayer.
The Catholic Student Organization has organized a "prayer walk" in light of the recent crimes on campus for students of every denomination to engage in moments of silence and prayer. The event starts at 6:15 p.m.
"We realize how recent crime has affected students and we want to go around and pray for the safety of the whole campus," said Brenda Kindelan, campus minister of The University of Memphis Catholic Center.
During the walk, each student will carry a flashlight and visit all the residence halls on the west side of campus.
"Some people are afraid at night to be on campus. We want to take back the night and our campus," Kindelan said.
Two members of the Catholic Student Organization were downstairs in Smith Hall right after the victim was held up last Thursday night. One of the members, Kara Wilber, a senior foreign language and education major, had a personal connection with the victim.
"I was robbed in May 2004 between Smith and the UC, so I feel for (the victims) so much because it leaves a mark," she said.
Wilber, who is the vice- president of Catholic Student Services, was working the front desk when the last crime happened on Thursday.
In spite of her close involvement with the prayer walk, Wilber was not sure if she wanted the event to even happen.
"At first, I didn't want to do it at all because of my safety. But, this is a good way to send a message that (criminals) can't stop us from living our lives and reclaiming our campus," she said.
Although the Catholic Student Organization is sponsoring the event, they encourage outside student involvement, and each religious house on campus supports the walk.
Residence life and police services have been informed of the prayer walk and Residence Life has taken measures to inform residents.
"We were approached by the Catholic Student Organization and told the RAs about the walk in hopes that they would tell the residents and they would get involved," said Danny Armitage, associate dean of Residence Life.
"Things like (the walk) heighten the awareness of the urban environment of our campus and remind us to use police services in case of emergency," he said.
Wednesday's prayer walk will be the first of two walks the Catholic Student Organization will do this year.
"Usually we have one per year around exam time to pray for all the students. The next one will be on April 5 for studies and general student success," Kindelan said.
"We have the walks because we also want them to be joyful for all students. We want to do something, even if it's just raising awareness."
