OU's student affairs division arranged to have the stone placed, an OU alumni affairs employee said. OU officials say families pay for such memorials but the student's father said OU offered to place the stone and never billed him.UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has more.
A stone costs $150.
Joel "Joe” Henry Hinrichs III, an engineering student, died Oct. 1, 2005, when his bomb went off at a campus bench a short distance from an OU night football game.
The FBI investigated whether the student, 21, tried or intended to enter the packed stadium but reported finding no conclusive evidence.
The student's father traveled from Colorado to Oklahoma to visit with university officials after the death. Joel Hinrichs Jr. said OU's dean of students, Clarke Stroud, offered to have the stone placed.
In an e-mail, the father told The Oklahoman the dean "very kindly understood that Joel's act was one of loneliness, not of aggression, and offered to have the stone placed in the memorial courtyard; he also indicated that the wife of the university president might select a tree to be placed on campus, also in Joel III's memory.”
April 26, 2007
Honoring the Sooner Boomer
"The University of Oklahoma has put outside the student union a patio stone engraved with the name of the student suicide bomber," Nolan Clay reports today in The Oklahoman.
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Sounds like the Sooner Boomer is not the only to have lost his head.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS WRONG.
ReplyDeleteIT SHOWS KIDS THEY CAN BE IMMORIALZED FOR EITHER A TERRORIST ACT OR A SUICIDE. BLOW YOURSELF UP GET YOUR 15 MINUTES OR IN THIS CASE IMMORTALITY- DUMB,DUMB!!!
DID THEY NOT LEARN ANYTHING FROM OK. CITY
Pretty sad comment on OU values...honoring someone who, at best, committed suicide.
ReplyDeleteSteven B.
It's ok to be opposed to the gesture the university made. I understand both sides.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I fail to see ANY humor in the loss of a life. The last time I checked, suicide wasn't funny, regardless of the circumstances.
Why is it ok make even the slightest poke at someone who ended his life?
Moving on. Steven, I have to ask you some honest questions. Assuming that these stones can be purchased as memorials for students or alumni, would you, if you had authority, revoke all the other stones that are memorials to students/alumni who have committed suicide? (I assure you that Hinrichs is not the first OU student to kill himself.) Or are you just mad that the university paid for it? If the university officials do eventually accept the money from Hinrich's father for the stone, would you be ok with the stone then? I really do want to know.
We need to remember that nothing was proven concerning Hinrichs' alleged desire to kill anyone other than himself. It's very obvious that since we live in a post 9/11 culture, not to mention the midwest, paranoia is rampant, and has contributed greatly to the sensationalizing of details surrounding this story over the past year and a half.
What this whole thing seems like to me, is that the father wanted to merely put this in as a memorial to his son, and the university officials (in this case, the student affairs division) paid for it, perhaps as a small gesture and break for all the father has gone through. Maybe the thought procces was somewhere along the lines of "So this guy has a son who blows himself up in the middle of campus, endures a ton of media and public scrutiny, as well as embarrasment, all why attempting to mourn his son, and wants to pay for this stone on top of it all? I think we'll go ahead and take care of it."
Mike...this incident is not comparable to the downtown bombing in any way, shape, or form. Settle down there.
I assure you this comment was not intended to be a novel :)
Kurt,
ReplyDelete"Other patio stones honor CBS anchor Katie Couric, actor and Oklahoma native James Garner and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, all of whom were given honorary doctorate degrees when they spoke at OU." - from the full report by the TV station.
The purpose of the stones, it seems to me, is to honor people who have contributed to the university or society in some recognized manner. The young man who died in the bomb blast constructed a device whose purpose was to kill. Did he mean to kill someone else, only himself, or did he just want to make a big boom and it got out of hand? Regardless of his intentions, his only contribution to the university or society that is being recognized with the stone is useless death and destruction. I don't think that is something to honor with a memorial stone. It's not the kind of behavior I would hold forth as honorable or to be emulated.
His life and death should be marked with a tombstone in a cemetary.
Steven B.
This is insanity. To the comment that said we don't know that this kid was planning on hurting anyone but himself I say this: Why a bomb if you are only looking to hurt yourself? Why not shoot yourself or hang yourself, something that has no potential to hurt anyone else. Please. This guy was going to blow people up and he screwed it up.
ReplyDeleteI wonder when they are going to put up a memorial for Timothy McVeigh. Same thing, the only difference is that McVeigh was successful in his attempt.
To Steven B.
ReplyDeleteYou are making it sound like this man's life was less important because he didn't have any credentials or degrees attached to his name. I am sure his life was important to people on the campus of OU.
I agree that his actions should not be seen as something to copy by any means, but all life should be remembered. And, if OU decides to do that, that's their issue. I perceive OU as showing compassion for the family of one of their students.
Evelyn
Evelyn,
ReplyDeleteThis young man did not think his own life was important enough to continue it. Why should he be remembered for ending his life? Why should we revere and honor his life more than he did?
It's not compassion but foolishness to honor those whose main legacy is senseless death.
His family should remember his life with a memorial stone in a cemetary.
Steven B.