Spring Break
AEPi honors professor killed at Virgina Tech
By: Chris Sannino
Issue date: 5/4/07 Section: News
Originally published: 5/4/07 at 3:19 AM EST
Last update: 5/4/07 at 3:20 AM EST
Originally published: 5/4/07 at 3:19 AM EST
Last update: 5/4/07 at 3:20 AM EST
Drexel's Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter held a service in remembrance of Virginia Tech Professor Liviu Librescu and all of those who died in the massacre April 26.
Born in Romania, Liviu Librescu survived the Holocaust before going on to become an accomplished scientist in his native country. After refusing to pledge allegiance to Communist Russia, he immigrated to Israel and then to the United States where he served as a professor of engineering science and mechanics at Virginia Tech.
Librescu, internationally known for his research and publications in aeronautical science, was gunned down while barricading himself against a classroom door so that his students could escape through the windows. He was 76 years old.
"What he did as an act of heroism, he did as a matter of instinct," said Harry Reicher, professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School and member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. "All of his upbringing, all his conditioning over 76 years lead him to do what he did without thought as to his own welfare, indeed his own life."
Reicher went on to talk about Librescu's life and widow who, shortly after the attacks, began to receive e-mail after e-mail from students praising her husband for saving their lives. UPenn Campus Rabbi and honorary AEPi brother Levi Haskelevich delivered the service alongside of Reicher.
"We decided to sponsor an event that would educate people. Plus, it would be a memorial to the victims as well as the professor, and also educate people about the Holocaust in tribute of the professor," Haskelevich said.
Both men spoke unto Librescu's heroic reputation and religious convictions. Sets of Shabbat candles were passed around at the service, which was informal in appearance yet solemn in meaning.
"The wife of the professor talked about how he loved this mitzvah of lighting Shabbat candles Friday night before sundown and how he would always remind her. And she asked that people do it in his memory," said Haskelevich in reference to The Daily Progress, a local newspaper.
Drexel's own AEPi chapter reached out to their brothers on Virginia Tech's campus.
"It's just a tragedy in general," said Roman Zubarev, a pre-junior majoring in business administration and President of Drexel's AEPi chapter. "Specifically, our guys were concerned about the AEPi chapter at Virginia Tech so immediately we got in touch with them to ask them if their guys were alright, because we feel a bond of brotherhood amongst ourselves and every other AEPi chapter across the country."
Born in Romania, Liviu Librescu survived the Holocaust before going on to become an accomplished scientist in his native country. After refusing to pledge allegiance to Communist Russia, he immigrated to Israel and then to the United States where he served as a professor of engineering science and mechanics at Virginia Tech.
Librescu, internationally known for his research and publications in aeronautical science, was gunned down while barricading himself against a classroom door so that his students could escape through the windows. He was 76 years old.
"What he did as an act of heroism, he did as a matter of instinct," said Harry Reicher, professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School and member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. "All of his upbringing, all his conditioning over 76 years lead him to do what he did without thought as to his own welfare, indeed his own life."
Reicher went on to talk about Librescu's life and widow who, shortly after the attacks, began to receive e-mail after e-mail from students praising her husband for saving their lives. UPenn Campus Rabbi and honorary AEPi brother Levi Haskelevich delivered the service alongside of Reicher.
"We decided to sponsor an event that would educate people. Plus, it would be a memorial to the victims as well as the professor, and also educate people about the Holocaust in tribute of the professor," Haskelevich said.
Both men spoke unto Librescu's heroic reputation and religious convictions. Sets of Shabbat candles were passed around at the service, which was informal in appearance yet solemn in meaning.
"The wife of the professor talked about how he loved this mitzvah of lighting Shabbat candles Friday night before sundown and how he would always remind her. And she asked that people do it in his memory," said Haskelevich in reference to The Daily Progress, a local newspaper.
Drexel's own AEPi chapter reached out to their brothers on Virginia Tech's campus.
"It's just a tragedy in general," said Roman Zubarev, a pre-junior majoring in business administration and President of Drexel's AEPi chapter. "Specifically, our guys were concerned about the AEPi chapter at Virginia Tech so immediately we got in touch with them to ask them if their guys were alright, because we feel a bond of brotherhood amongst ourselves and every other AEPi chapter across the country."
