Somber-faced friends, family and faculty members gather on campus Wednesday to celebrate, remember and honor the life of University of Wisconsin senior Neha Suri.
Somber-faced friends, family and faculty members gathered on campus Wednesday afternoon to celebrate, remember and honor the life of University of Wisconsin senior Neha Suri, who died Tuesday afternoon of bacterial meningitis.
A slideshow accompanied by music played as attendees entered a Lathrop Hall room packed with more than 100 people. As people settled in their seats, a photo of Suri as a toddler appeared on the projector.
A black screen followed, carrying the message, “In Loving Memory of Neha Suri.”
Dean of Students Lori Berquam welcomed the crowd and asked for a moment of silence to honor Suri.
Berquam followed the moment of silence with a message to Suri’s family.
“I want to thank Neha’s family for lending her to us for a short amount of time,” Berquam said. “Lending her to us so that she could walk up and down the sidewalks of Bascom Hill, go to the classes and enrich all of our lives.”
Berquam invited Chancellor Biddy Martin to the stage, who told the audience what she had learned about Suri.
“What I’ve learned over the past few days about Neha Suri makes it evident that she didn’t just visit this school,” Martin said. “… She managed in a relatively short time to make of her life something singular and something important.”
Suri’s neighbors on Bassett Street, UW seniors Henry Weiner, Colin Tierney, Kevin Paris and Dave Abbott then came to the front and played “Tender” by Blur.
The four seniors all stressed they were lucky to have known Suri.
Political science department Chair John Coleman said Suri, who was a political science and journalism major, was an outstanding student.
“All of us in the department, all of us in this room and on campus have lost the remarkable potential and promise that was inherent in her sharp mind and her equally kind heart,” Coleman said.
Coleman added the political science department will award a memorial scholarship this year to a student who displays Suri’s zeal for learning.
School of Journalism & Mass Communication Director Greg Downey said the journalism school hopes to also give a scholarship in Suri’s honor.
Following faculty comments, Suri’s mother was given a stole with the colors of Singapore, the country Suri was from. Suri was also given a posthumous degree by Dean of the College of Letters and Science Gary Sandefur.
Another musical interlude followed. Paris played a song he wrote, saying he composed it last summer while contemplating happiness.
“If we are to carry on we must love, yes we must love,” the song said.
Suri’s friends spoke after the song.
“Her death has been heartbreaking and difficult to understand, with waves [of] grief and pain still to come,” Abbott said. “[But] when my thoughts drift to Neha, it will not only bring me fond memories, but strength as well.”
In closing, Berquam led attendees in a rendition of “Varsity”. The ceremony closed with people’s arms around the shoulders of others, remembering Suri’s pride in being a Badger.
