Post by Brown University

Brown University President Christina H. Paxson has charged a committee of faculty, staff and students to make recommendations for a permanent campus memorial honoring the lives of Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, two undergraduates lost in the Dec. 13, 2025 campus shooting. Through community discussions and input from students, faculty, staff and alumni, the Committee on the December 13 Memorial will explore questions of tone, design and overall vision for the memorial. The committee will also consult with the students’ families and identify potential campus locations where a memorial would carry strong visibility and symbolic meaning. Recommendations from the committee are expected by the end of the Fall 2026 semester, including a proposed call for artists and designers, guiding principles for the memorial’s development and potential related curricula or programming tied to the memorial.