Remembering Michael Tobin: Hundreds attend Tobin vigil

With words and tears, Greeks and non-Greeks alike met Friday night. A larger-than-expected crowd of over 350 people came to College Green on Friday night to pay tribute to the memory of 1994 College graduate and Phi Gamma Delta brother Michael Tobin, who was found dead behind the FIJI house early last Sunday morning after attending a fraternity alumni event. At the vigil, InterFraternity Council President Mark Metzl, a College junior and Tau Epsilon Phi brother, spoke about Tobin's legacy, noting that when the FIJI brother "fell to his death in the center of Penn's campus," his passing emphasized "the fragile nature of life." "This could have happened to you or I," Metzl said. The vigil -- which the IFC planned along with the Panhellenic Council and University Chaplain William Gipson -- attracted such a large, primarily Greek crowd that the IFC distributed all 300 candles it had bought for the event, leaving many participants without a light by which to remember Tobin during the moment of silence held early in the ceremony. Tobin suffered a fractured skull and internal injuries after falling down a flight of stairs outside the FIJI house at 3619 Locust Walk. Friends told police he had been drinking throughout the previous day. FIJI has since been suspended by both the University and its national chapter for violating alcohol and risk management policies and Penn has temporarily banned alcohol from being served at any registered undergraduate party. IFC Executive Vice President Andrew Exum, a College junior and Daily Pennsylvanian columnist, opened the ceremony after telling the crowd he needed to wait five minutes for students to trickle in, and closed out the vigil by pointing to those without candles and saying, "this far exceeded our expectations." Pushing aside the controversial issues surrounding Tobin's alcohol-related death, Exum noted, "The only reason we are here today is to remember and pay tribute to Michael Tobin." Engineering junior and FIJI brother Vincent Montemaggiore spoke on behalf of the brotherhood when he read a letter from Andrew Gold, one of Tobin's lacrosse teammates and fellow classmates in 1994. "He had so much life pumping through his veins," Gold wrote. "I still don't believe that he's gone." After half an hour of speaking, the vigil ended in silence, tears and hugs. "It's good to see support like that," said FIJI President Martin Park, a Wharton junior. Members of the non-Greek community also expressed sympathy for Tobin and the FIJI brothers by taking part in the vigil. Wharton senior Marcie Bromberg stressed that a death affects the entire Penn community. "All these people who didn't know him felt it was important enough to come," she said. Before Tobin's death, the three Greek umbrella organizations had scheduled an All-Greek mixer for Friday night as part of their annual Greek Weekend. However, the Greeks canceled the mixer last Sunday evening because they felt that a celebration would be inappropriate following the death, according to Panhel President Becca Iverson, a College junior. The Chi Omega sister added that the Greek system put a social freeze on Friday night to make all chapters available for the vigil. With no Greek events taking place that night, "we could fully show our support" for the loss of one of our own, Iverson said. She noted, "[The vigil] is not a protest. It is not at all related to alcohol changes on campus. It is a Greek remembrance of Michael Tobin." University President Judith Rodin did not attend Friday's ceremony but issued a statement which Gipson read.

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