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MEMORIALS MARK WEEK AT UC BERKELEY

By Steven Finacom, Special to the Planet
Tuesday April 26, 2011 - 09:17:00 PM

If the week before last there was a spirit of celebration on the UC Berkeley campus, including the Cal Day Open House, the third week of April might be characterized as more contemplative. 

The Armenian Student Association held several days of events as part of Genocide Awareness Week, concluding on campus with a "United Hands Across Cal" commemoration on Sproul Plaza. Students and community members gathered to hold hands, listen to speeches, music, and silence during the Friday lunch hour. Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington was one of the speakers, and words of support were offered by representatives of Jewish, Muslim, and Iranian student organizations. 

Earlier in the week, symbolic candles and an information table marked Memorial Glade in front of Doe Library. 

Friday evening about 70 students and others from Newman Hall, Holy Spirit Parish--the Roman Catholic student center south of the University--participated in a Good Friday "Ecumenical Stations of the Cross" procession across the Berkeley campus, reenacting the journey of Jesus to his crucifixion. 

Beginning at Sather Gate they carried a cross to several stops on the campus where Biblical verses were read and more recent social activism recalled. Students alternated in carrying the wooden cross. At one point the procession passed behind a contingent of the Cal Marching Band which was giving a concert on Lower Sproul Plaza. Another one of the stops was next to the "Football Players" statue on campus. 

On Monday, an array of small black ribbons was placed on a lawn near Sather Gate, in front of a sign that said "On Average, 1 Mexican Murdered Per Hour Because of the Drug War in Mexico, since 2006...What will YOU Do?"