Five years after a gunman killed two women and injured four people at a Tallahassee yoga studio, Florida State University is slated to hold a research and policy symposium Thursday about reducing violence against women and girls.
The event also will include a memorial service for the women killed in the shooting, FSU College of Medicine professor Nancy Van Vessem, 61, and FSU student Maura Binkley, 21.
A news release from the university said friends and family members of the victims, including Maura Binkley’s father, Jeff Binkley, who founded the group Maura’s Voice, will attend. Jeff Binkley and John Thrasher, who was president of FSU at the time of the shooting, are slated to speak.
The symposium is geared toward helping counter “hate-fueled violence,” with an emphasis on violence toward women. The gunman who killed Binkley and Van Vessem had previously recorded online videos railing against women who had turned down his advances.
The shooting took place on Nov. 2, 2018, at Hot Yoga Tallahassee.
Speakers include:
· Jeff Binkley, Maura’s father and co-founder of Maura’s Voice
· Florida State University President Emeritus John Thrasher
· James J. Clark, provost and executive vice president, Florida State University
· Jillian Turanovic, associate professor, College of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Florida State University
· Lynn Jones, M.D., FACP, associate medical director, Capital Health Plan and Community Board Member, College of Medicine, Florida State University
· Emily Snider, senior project manager, Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism
The event will take place Thursday, November 2, 2023 with the following schedule:
4 P.M.
RESEARCH/POLICY SYMPOSIUM
6:30 P.M.
MEMORIAL SERVICE
Location:
FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
DURRELL PEADEN AUDITORIUM (THRASHER BUILDING)
1115 W. CALL ST.
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
The Maura’s Voice Research Fund, housed in the College of Social Work, was launched in 2019 to better understand and provide information to help counter hate-fueled violence, with an emphasis on violence against women and girls.
