The murder of a graduate student filled September with an air of loss and tragedy. Fifth-year Mathematics graduate student Al-Moez Alimohamed's murder shocked the University. City and University administrators joined hundreds of students, faculty, University employees and West Philadelphia residents in a candlelight vigil. They marched from the Peace Symbol on College Green to the the site of Alimohamed's slaying at 47th and Pine streets to protest the murder and mourn his loss. An October trial date was set for the five suspects in the murder, but it has been delayed. All five suspects are being tried as adults. Later in the month, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences Donald Fitts announced that he would step down at the end of the semester. He had held the position for 16 years. SAS Dean Rosemary Stevens praised Fitts, adding that he would be missed. But Fitts said he would stay at the University, concentrating on teaching and research in the Chemistry Department. In a definitely less bittersweet goodbye, the University tied for 12th place with Rice University in the U.S. News and World Report College Guide, shedding its 16th place ranking in 1993. The University leapfrogged over Cornell University to get out of the Ivy League cellar. Residents of the Quadrangle lost a little privacy and security when two nude men were found in the Class of '28 and Speakman sections of the dorm on consecutive days. And the football team was forced to part with their white away uniforms when a flash fire broke out in an equipment room at Franklin Field on September 22. Instead, the Quakers had to wear blue home jerseys and blue pants for the remainder of the football season.
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