AU’s Burk remembered at conference

By Amy Weaver

Published: April 8, 2008

Many female Auburn University students attended Tuesday’s Women’s Leadership Conference, but one was noticeably absent.

Lauren Burk, an 18-year-old freshman from Marietta, Ga., was a pre-graphic design major and a member of the Delta Gamma sorority. The 2008 conference was dedicated in her memory. Burk was killed March 4.

DG president Alison Penuel had a hard time talking about what it means to her and her fellow sisters to have Burk memorialized in such a fashion. However, it’s quite fitting, she said. Burk’s passion for a causes like Invisible Children fits the conference theme — Acting Locally, Thinking Globally, she said. Auburn has a chapter for the organization that helps provide children in war-torn countries access to an education.

“She truly is a role model for all of us,” Penuel said.

Lauren Hayes, the Student Government Association President, said she’s been inspired by a lot of women in her life, especially in her run for president. Even though she didn’t know Burk personally, she has become one of those special women. Hayes said she has come to develop a great respect for Penuel as well, who in the face of tragedy, grew from a leader of her sorority to a leader among the entire campus, serving as an example for all.

Hayes herself is paving a new path, as the first female SGA president since 1988.

“I tend to forget all the women who went before us to blaze the trail,” she said.

Senior Allison Brown didn’t know Burk either, but said this week’s Clothesline Project and Take Back the Night event are for her. As a member of the Auburn family and a victim of violence, she is “a life that will never be forgotten,” she said.

The Clothesline Project will be in the Haley Center concourse today and Thursday, starting at 10 a.m. The Take Back the Night walk, rally and candlelight vigil will start at 7 p.m. Thursday, outside of Foy Union. Brown helped restore Take Back the Night last year in conjunction with the annual Clothesline Project.

“I can’t stop it now even if I wanted to because I realized how influential it can be,” she said. “Violence against women happens everywhere, even Auburn.”

Burk died March 4 from a single gunshot wound.

A hearing for the man charged with capital murder in her death, Courtney Lockhart, 23, of Smiths Station is scheduled this month.

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