As Penn State graduation nears, a mother pushes the university to remember students who died
As she copes with the death of her daughter, a mother sought solace from Penn State in what she views as a simple request: Acknowledge the student lives lost from the Class of 2024 during this weekend’s commencement ceremonies.
It could be an empty chair, a moment of reflection, saying their names or another gesture of remembrance. For Francoise Gross and other parents, graduation is more than a joyous milestone for thousands of students and their families.
It’s a reminder of sons and daughters, like Justine Gross, who do not have the opportunity to walk across the stage with their classmates and become proud Nittany Lion alumni.
“You definitely do not want to just shun the family away and shun her away,” her mother told the Centre Daily Times. “She meant something.”
A university spokesperson said College of the Liberal Arts Dean Clarence Lang plans to ask those in attendance Saturday to honor the memory of students who were “taken far too soon.”
“Their absence leaves a void during this weekend and we hold their families close in our thoughts,” university spokeswoman Lisa Powers wrote in a statement Tuesday.
It’s unclear when that decision was made, but Gross believes it came only after she asked Lang on Monday if the university had any plans to acknowledge those students. She said she was frustrated and disappointed it took, in her view, some prodding to get Penn State to acquiesce.
The most public way the university typically honors and remembers students who died during any given academic year is during its annual Night of Remembrance, where individual names are read. Each year, there are about 25 students or more who are memorialized at the event.
“To the best of my knowledge, the University does not offer special acknowledgments of individuals in each class who have passed away,” Lang wrote in a Monday email to Gross. “As appropriate, however, I don’t see why I could not make a comment in my remarks generally acknowledging the lives lost from the Class of 2024.”
The National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles recommends that schools read the names of students in the graduating class, finding it may help people honor the memory of those with whom they formed close relationships.
The center’s guidelines make clear that graduation ceremonies aren’t the best time to provide tributes, but brief acknowledgments can help with healing. Families, students and school staff should be notified beforehand.
It’s also a good practice to consult with the student body to see what they prefer, Director David J. Schonfeld told the CDT, but he conceded that can be difficult at a large university.
Justine, a vibrant middle child and Penn State sophomore who was effective with her words, died in November 2021. She plunged 11 stories down a trash chute at her off-campus apartment in downtown State College. Borough police ruled out foul play.
Many in the Penn State and State College communities don’t know more about her than that. But her mother will tell you there was so much more to the woman who was an honors student and varsity cheerleading captain at her northern New Jersey high school.
Justine, who would be 21, and her mother envisioned heading to a luxury resort and bar in Miami shortly after graduation. She planned to start her career on Wall Street, but Gross said fashion was her daughter’s true love.
“Her missing these significant moments really makes you realize how tragic it is that she’s gone,” Gross said. “We are still in shock.”
She has not been satisfied with the borough police and Centre County Coroner’s Office investigation, which ruled Justine’s death accidental. No charges were filed, including against the man who gave her marijuana less than an hour before her fall.
Gross has also sought to hold the apartment’s property management company and the designer and manufacturer of the trash chute accountable through a wrongful death lawsuit. Her daughter’s death, the suit alleges, was “easily preventable.”
By sharing her daughter’s story, Gross said she hopes it sends a message to other grieving families that they are not alone. She understands the heartbreaking feeling that comes when a home feels and sounds different, but encouraged parents to fight.
Fight for change, she said, and to honor the legacies of students who were loved by so many.
“It’s her commitment that she went to them, to their school and the love of what she wanted to become from Penn State,” Gross said when asked how an acknowledgment would honor her daughter. “That’s Justine.”
This story was originally published May 2, 2024 at 10:47 AM.