Community protests grad student's murder

By the somber warmth of candlelight, members of the University City community held a vigil last night in remembrance and protest of last month's violent murder of fifth-year Mathematics graduate student Al-Moez Alimohamed. City and University administrators joined hundreds of students, faculty, University employees and West Philadelphia residents in a march from the Peace Symbol on College Green to the site of Alimohamed's slaying at 47th and Pine streets. Ironically, while people were still dispersing from the vigil that called for an end to crime, a person was robbed at gunpoint at 46th and Pine streets at 10:06 p.m., according to Philadelphia Police Officer Frank Oliverio. University President Judith Rodin, who spoke at the vigil, said that although the University is making greater efforts to deter crime after Alimohamed's death, she told participants she could not offer a simple solution. "I have no single intervention to introduce to you," she said. "To Penn, this has been a summer of despair and great horror." Penn Newman Council President and College senior Jeremy Chiapetta protested Rodin's rationale. "There are concerns when you have a $10 million budget to secure a little more than a square mile and you have these acts of violence going on," he said. "It's time for these so-called 'random' acts of violence to cease." Protesters agreed that violent crime needs to be stopped -- immediately. They pointed to other acts of violence which also took place in and around campus during the past year. Most recently, Wharton senior Samir Shah was shot in an attempted robbery at 39th and Pine streets, and last fall a College of General Studies student was car-jacked at 34th and Chestnut streets, and subsequently robbed, raped and shot in the face . Rona Rosenberg, an administrative coordinator in the Graduate School of Education, said the time for action is now. "Something has to be done," she said. "I've been a resident of this neighborhood for 20 years, and I've brought up four children in this neighborhood, and they've been mugged, beat up, two cars were robbed [and] one truck was set on fire." Women's Center Director Elena DiLapi said the government must place a higher priority on ending urban poverty before significant change can occur. "Social problems underlie the rise in this random violence," she said. "Without a steady job and a hot meal, people turn to their worst elements." College senior Danny Leader said cooperation must figure into the solution to urban problems. "The members of the University community and the West Philadelphia community need to work together to improve the state of violence," he said. "Urban violence threatens to tear apart our nation." While many at the vigil protested the devastating epidemic of crime in the area, others had come simply to pay tribute to Alimohamed. Richard Rosin, the father of Alimohamed's girlfriend, College junior Rebecca Rosin, and a close friend of Alimohamed, spoke with emotion about the loss of "a very wonderful and special young man." "Once in a lifetime we are lucky enough to meet someone we can describe as one of God's chosen people," he said. "My daughter has lost a very special love and I have lost a very special friend." Some of Alimohamed's former students also marched in the vigil in memory of him. "He was one of the best teachers I ever had," said Chris Hiester, a School of Arts and Sciences computer/media consultant who had Alimohamed as his Mathematics 130 teaching assistant. "I want to remember him as a person, as a teacher, and as a member of the Penn community."