Lynn University: ‘Now Is the Time to Grieve’

ABC News on Campus reporter April Dudash blogs: Fifteen days after a 7.0 earthquake ravaged Haiti, Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. is acknowledging their worst fears: that the four students and two faculty members still missing have most likely died. Lynn University president Kevin Ross met with students, faculty and the media today to deliver the news. “We had waited for good news, hoped for a miracle — prayed for a different outcome. But it is apparently not to be,” Ross said, adding that recovery operations now “dominate the landscape at the Hotel Montana” in Port-au-Prince, where the students had been staying. Those still missing are students Stephanie Crispinelli, Courtney Hayes, Britney Gengel and Christine Gianacaci (pictured above), and Lynn University faculty advisors Patrick Hartwick and Richard Bruno. They were part of a 14-member “Journey of Hope” team that focused on community service. The other eight students returned to Boca Raton on Jan. 15 to reunite with family on campus.  According to university spokesman Jason Hughes, those still missing were believed to have been in separate areas of the hotel during the earthquake. The faculty members may have been in the fitness center, and the remaining students are thought to have been in their hotel rooms, which were located on the second and first floors of the Hotel Montana. In the wake of the tragedy, the school reaffirmed their commitment to supporting international education programs. “Of course we will continue to encourage our students to live, work and serve abroad, as well as here at home. It is an important part of who we are, and therefore, a defining characteristic of our graduates,” Ross said. “But we’ll also continue this work because we owe it to our six. Our students will continue to feed the poor, aid the sick, and comfort the hurting … and they will spread the word about the things they see and the needs they encounter. They will do this, whether I think they should or not, because it is a passion that has been cultivated on this campus in large part by the very students who were serving on that Journey of Hope.” “Today begins a new phase in our journey,” Ross said. “Today, we begin to grieve as individuals and as an institution. And in doing so, we join the families of our missing students and professors, who continue to grieve at this hour and who are certainly carrying the heaviest load.”