Along Legacy Walk, not far from Florida State University's student union building, a near constant stream of staff members and students are walking, arms loaded with items from the makeshift memorials built in the wake of a mass shooting earlier this month on the university's campus.
They're carrying them to a row of folding tables, already piled high, where the objects are sorted into categories, like flowers, plants, candles and notes. Katie McCormick is the Associate Dean for Special Collections and Archives for the University Libraries. She says the items collected number in the thousands.
It's been about a week and a half since a gunman opened fire on campus, killing two and injuring six others. Some students say the effort to clean up the memorials is too soon. But university officials say they aren't trying to make the memorials disappear. They're trying to preserve them.
McCormick is overseeing the documentation, collection and preservation of the memorials.
"It's been really incredible to see the support and then to design this process in a way that allows for people to contribute their time and energy to the process and perhaps use it as part of their own healing process," McCormick says.
The majority of the bouquets will be composted, with a plan that the compost could be used for future memorial plantings by the university. Some of the flowers will be kept and dried. Still living plants will be planted or distributed. And then there are the items—hats, teddy bears, framed poems and pictures. McCormick says her team is packing those into archival boxes. They will later be inventoried and a catalog of those items will be posted online.
McCormac had just arrived on campus the day of the shooting. She heard the shots ringing out and saw the students running. She made her way to the library to help. She says she's been focused on helping ever since and hasn’t yet taken time to reflect.
“I’m not ready to sit with these notes yet, myself," McCormick says. "But I’m grateful they’re going to be there when it’s time. And it’s for me personally an important aspect to be able to bring my professional skills and experience, and to help others on my team bring their skills to contribute to the healing of the community. That’s a step in my own healing in this process.”
McCormac hopes it’s healing for the others involved as well, like Sophomore Elle Plasencia, who is part of the group helping to clear items from the memorials.
“I’ve walked through a couple times. I’ve looked at stuff. But I think it’s a lot more to be holding it," Plasencia says. "You know, you pick up what other people have put down to make sure it stays preserved and to be sure we have this record of all the work and all the love that people put into the memorial. It’s been a lot of reminders of what happened, but the sheer amount of it is pretty emotional as well.”
Some students worry the clean-up is coming too soon
Some students have expressed concerns that the clean-up and preservation process is starting too soon. But Plasencia, who contributed flowers to one of the memorials, says she’s glad this effort is underway now before items are damaged or lost.
“It’s changing location, and it’s not going to be how it was. It’s going to be different, but I still think it’s good that it’s going to be preserved even if it's not exactly where or in the arrangement it was,” Plasencia says.
Plasencia was in her dorm room when the shooting happened. She and her friends were safe, but even so, she says being on campus now feels emotional.
“It’s gotten easier little by little," Plasencia says. "I walked by the union for the first time a couple days ago and that was pretty heavy.”
University officials say they recognize members of the FSU community are just in the beginning stages of their healing process and that everyone heals at their own pace.
