As local, state and federal investigators continue to explore what led to the shooting of UNC associate professor Zijie Yan on Monday, the campus community is returning to classes Thursday – and still grappling with the event. Tar Heels are sharing a wide range of their emotions, ranging from grief over losing a faculty member to frustration of how that violent act could occur.
Those sentiments were on display in the last 48 hours, as the Carolina community acknowledged their loss and their trauma through several gatherings.
The campus-wide events began with a candlelight vigil organized by first-year students on Tuesday night, as people gathered in front of the student union and in The Pit to remember Zijie Yan and share their stories from the campus lockdown the day prior. Some students expressed the fear they felt over the three hours they sheltered in place, while others shared concerns of having their connection to campus ruined by the association of Monday’s shooting. The group expressed a desire to support one another and to be aware of each person’s unique way of processing the death of Yan and threat to UNC’s safety.
Meanwhile, people also began leaving flowers, trinkets and notes at the base of the Caudill Labs sign to honor Yan. More were added on Wednesday, with a pile also growing at the Morehead-Patterson bell tower. One of the university-organized ways Yan was remembered on Wednesday was to ring the bell tower at 1:02 p.m. — the estimated time the researcher was shot and killed. Students and faculty lined the sidewalk and took a moment of silence as three long tolls rang across the campus.
Students gather around the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower to hear it toll in Zijie Yan’s honor on Wednesday August 30, not far from Caudill Labs where the associate professor was shot and killed on August 28.
A message written in chalk at the heart of UNC’s campus on August 30, 2023.
While some reflected internally, on the other side of the Polk Place quad, another group was expressing themselves more externally.
The UNC chapter of March For Our Lives – a gun control advocacy group founded in 2018 – organized a rally with the UNC Young Democrats and other student groups on the steps of South Building. As hundreds of people showed up, speakers lamented how UNC is the latest American college campus to experience gun violence like Monday and pointed to statistics highlighting the prevalence of firearm deaths.
The group of demonstrators included Luke Diasio, a UNC senior and leader within the campus March For Our Lives. He said based on the rise of mass shootings and lack of stricter gun policies, he ultimately expected to face some sort of gun violence around the university and wasn’t surprised. But he added that doesn’t take away the trauma and frustration that stemmed from being locked in a Franklin Street bathroom and being unsure about his peers’ wellbeing.
“We were unsure if our lives would end as we barricaded our doors with desks, listened to police radio in silence, and frantically texted our loved ones,” he said to the crowd. “As we huddled against the walls on the cold tile floor, everything sounded like gunfire. More than 300,000 American students have been on a campus during a shooting since 1999. Two days ago, we were all forcibly added to that statistic.”
UNC students, community members, and gun control advocates gather on the steps of South Building to push for reform following the gun violence that led to a faculty member’s death. The rally drew many attendees, who heard speakers share their personal experiences from Monday’s shooting and others they’ve been affected by. In this photo, Luke Diasio holds the microphone in the middle of demonstrators to speak to the crowd.
Some of the speakers at Wednesday’s rally pointed to North Carolina’s recent repeal of its pistol purchase permitting law, which scaled back a requirement to receive a permit from a local sheriff before legally buying a handgun. With the weapon in Monday’s shooting still being sought by investigators as of Wednesday, it’s not clear yet whether the charged suspect Tailei Qi legally purchased the firearm.
President of UNC Young Democrats TJ White said, though, the fact that interpersonal gun violence is so pervasive shows how the current state and federal laws are not enough.
“One of the leading causes of death [in] the United States is gun violence, and for those aged 1-18 it is the leading cause of death,” said White. “Mental health has a role here, so does interpersonal conflict – but at its core, this is a result of bad public gun policy.”
The shooting on Monday has drawn national attention, with figures from all sides of the political spectrum weighing in and people arriving to Chapel Hill to cover the incident. That included 23-year-old activist and Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, who helped found March For Our Lives with his high school classmates. Hogg joined UNC students on the steps of South Building, saying it will be up to people like those in attendance to use their experience as a generation raised through mass shootings to change policies themselves.
“We need to repurpose of ‘run, hide, and fight,'” he said. “We need to run for office to replace those [who maintain current gun laws] and change our government. If they won’t change the gun laws here in North Carolina, then guess what? It’s time to change the government [make-up].
“We need to refuse to hide from the responsibility that we have to protect future generations,” Hogg added. “We need to refuse to listen to the people who say to us, ‘You’re too emotional to be talking right now, what happened just happened one time.’ This happens every single day in America. There are some people on this stage with me where this is their third shooting that they’ve been through, and they aren’t even old enough to run for Congress yet.”
UNC senior Ezster Rimanyi – who said she experienced a shooting in her high school community – urged those in attendance to channel their frustration into action. But she also cautioned against people mischaracterizing their emotions and misrepresenting their experience.
“People are going to pick up our story on a national scale and try to divide us,” she said. “They’re going to politicize our conversation [in] a way that makes us turn against each other, but we cannot allow it in those moments. I want you to remember the solidarity we felt coming out of this traumatic event, and I want you to refrain from this division.”
One of those moments of solidarity came a few hours later, as around 5,000 campus and broader community members gathered in the Dean Smith Center. UNC held its own candlelight vigil for Yan, whose family sat to the side for the ceremony. A pair of musicians performed a piece in honor of the associate professor, attendants held candles in his honor, and several university leaders shared their reflections on Yan’s addition to the faculty body.
The professor’s department chair, Theo Dingemans, spoke to Yan’s willingness to push the boundaries of his expertise and love for his two young daughters.
UNC students help each other light candles during the university-organized vigil in Zijie Yan’s honor on Wednesday, August 30 in the Dean Smith Center.
Theo Dingemans, the chair of the Applied Physical Sciences Department where Zijie Yan worked, speaks at the university’s vigil on Wednesday about his colleague.
“Zijie was one of the kindest [people] I’ve ever met,” said Dingemans. “He was soft-spoken, he was a great listener, and he actually had a wonderful sense of humor. On Monday, August 28, all of this came to an end. Zijie’s family and his students have to move on without him. The APS department has lost a wonderful colleague.”
Beyond honoring its fallen faculty member, the university’s theme of the vigil was Carolina Strong.
“Now comes the challenge,” said Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz. “We must find a way to move forward while never forgetting the loss that we’ve felt this week. But how? How do we move forward when our lives can feel so fragile and out of control? The answer to that question comes from our community. It comes from the countless acts of kindness and bravery that we have witnessed.”
Guskiewicz cited stories and scenes from campus over the past two days, citing people’s response to protect others during the campus lockdown — like staff who locked doors to public gathering areas and classmates who helped others to areas where they could shelter in place. The chancellor commended the response of UNC campus police to the scene of Monday’s crime and also those who gathered at the bell tower just hours earlier for taking time out of their day to reflect together.
“As we work to strengthen and rebuild our community together in the days and weeks to come,” said Guskiewicz, “I encourage you to continue supporting your fellow Tar Heels. We need each other and we can’t face the challenges of our world alone.
“I’m so proud of our university,” he concluded, “and I’m more convinced than ever that we’re defined by our worst moments, but by the way we rise to meet them.”
UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz delivers remarks at the university’s candlelight vigil honoring Zijie Yan and encouraging the campus community to stay strong in the wake of his death.
To watch the full UNC candlelight vigil honoring Zijie Yan from Wednesday night, visit the university’s YouTube page.
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