Grieving session' set for 6 p.m. Monday at Russell House
The University of South Carolina will hold a "grieving session" at 6 p.m. Monday in the ballroom of the Russell House University Union to mourn the victims of a fire Sunday in North Carolina.
"Tonight in this ballroom we will have a group gathering, a grieving session, an opportunity for students and faculty members from the university community," said Dennis Pruitt, university vice president for student affairs. "We'll share some information and have some of our campus ministers available
"We'll have a couple of students speak and the opportunity for students to comfort each other. We'll have grief counselors and other professionals there to assist them. At the conclusion of that service, we will take the students out front to Greene Street and we will light candles to honor our fellow students."
The group will gather around a large Gamecock that is painted on the center of Greene Street. "University students have asked that we designate that as a physical location where others students might bring flowers or cards of sympathy or letters or notes both to the deceased and to the survivors and to the parents and families of those students," Pruitt said. "That's operational as we speak."
There are still no details about a memorial service. "If the students want a memorial service, if the families want a memorial service, we will have one," Pruitt said. "That will probably be the end of the week or early next week. That will be after we have confirmation of the students' identifications."
Seven students died in the fire at a house in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. Six are believed have been students at the university, and a seventh fatality was believed to be a student at Clemson University. Six other University of South Carolina students were treated for injuries at a local hospital and released.
"Let me extend our condolences to these families of these individuals and to their communities because these are families that are well established in their communities," Pruitt said.
Pruitt said university President Dr. Andrew Sorensen talked Monday with families of both the deceased and injured students. "He offered them the assistance of the University of South Carolina, offered them our sympathy and condolences. The families were appreciative of those calls."
Pruitt said he had talked with his counterpart at Clemson on Monday and that Sorensen and Clemson President James Barker also had spoken.
University administrators and North Carolina law enforcement authorities were working closely Monday to confirm further information. Pruitt reiterated that confirmation on the identities of the students might take until Tuesday or Wednesday. Their bodies have been sent to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The university is providing counseling and assistance to students who have requested it as part of a network that includes advisers in residence halls and the Counseling and Human Development Center. Anyone in the university community who needs assistance should contact the counseling center at 803-777-5223 starting at 8:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.
Pruitt said the counseling center had extended its hours for Monday night and that additional phone lines had been made available in response to increased phone calls Monday morning.
Some of the students at the house were members of Delta Delta Delta sorority or Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. The presidents of those two organizations, Lauren Hodge of Sumter, S.C., and Jay Laura of Greenville, S.C., spoke Monday and expressed their gratitude for the support their organizations had received.
"I just want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support for our chapter and the members of Delta Delta Delta," Hodge said. "This has been an extremely difficult time for our chapter and the university as a whole. It really means a lot to know so many people are here for us through these hard times."
Laura said, "In times like these I am reminded how lucky I am to live in the state of South Carolina, to attend the University of South Carolina and be a part of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Most of my mind is currently dominated by grief, despair and sympathy for the victims' families, but there is a small part of my soul that is smiling today as I witness the spirt of our community as it comes together to support all those in need."
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