Spring Break
Student war memorial proposed
Daina Pretzer
Issue date: 4/11/05 Section: News
A memorial to honor MTSU alumni who have died in military service is being proposed by an MTSU professor.
Two students in the political science department, First Lt. Pierre E. Piche and 1st Lt. Ken Ballard, died in the conflict just last year.
Professor Andrei Korobkov, who had Ballard in his classes, suggested that a war memorial be built on campus in honor of those who died in Iraq.
"We think it's important to have something permanent, not only [in] the department but university wise," Korobkov said. "We have many people who will go to serve and have a chance to be killed."
Dennis Oneal, electronic media communications professor, suggested at the faculty senate meeting that the memorial be for all students.
"[The memorial would honor] students, faculty and alumni, everybody from MTSU who has fallen," Korobkov said. He said there are many hurdles to overcome in order to get a memorial built.
"First is approval and [then] getting money and [finally] searching for the people [who have been killed in all the wars]," Korobkov said. "It was a very emotional proposal."
Korobkov said he hopes that the memorial would be placed somewhere between Peck Hall and the Cope Administration Building.
"It's a good spot because it's open and we have public events there so many people will see it, [but] we are open for other proposals," he said.
The biggest hurdle however, is compiling a list of all the students that have died in all the wars since MTSU was founded in 1911.
"We do not have an effective databank," Korobkov said. "Finding [all] the people in the service who were killed will require work."
He said the memorial is still just a proposal and nothing is definite yet.
"I'm not sure what stage it's on," said political science professor Robb McDaniel, who had Piche as a student. "To push this forward we'll probably have to wait for better information. It's a practical consideration."
McDaniel said that the memorial could be built in a couple of years.
"If it drags out too long there's the memory problem," McDaniel said. "The less fresh it is in our minds, the less motivation there is to go forward."
But "as long as the Iraq conflict goes on, it's a reminder of what we should do."
"[Piche] was a really good student. I still remember the seat he always sat in class," McDaniel said. "What he said was always sharp and penetrating, always prepared, and ready to engage ideas with the rest of the class."
"He's somebody who I would have expected to succeed," McDaniel said.
Two students in the political science department, First Lt. Pierre E. Piche and 1st Lt. Ken Ballard, died in the conflict just last year.
Professor Andrei Korobkov, who had Ballard in his classes, suggested that a war memorial be built on campus in honor of those who died in Iraq.
"We think it's important to have something permanent, not only [in] the department but university wise," Korobkov said. "We have many people who will go to serve and have a chance to be killed."
Dennis Oneal, electronic media communications professor, suggested at the faculty senate meeting that the memorial be for all students.
"[The memorial would honor] students, faculty and alumni, everybody from MTSU who has fallen," Korobkov said. He said there are many hurdles to overcome in order to get a memorial built.
"First is approval and [then] getting money and [finally] searching for the people [who have been killed in all the wars]," Korobkov said. "It was a very emotional proposal."
Korobkov said he hopes that the memorial would be placed somewhere between Peck Hall and the Cope Administration Building.
"It's a good spot because it's open and we have public events there so many people will see it, [but] we are open for other proposals," he said.
The biggest hurdle however, is compiling a list of all the students that have died in all the wars since MTSU was founded in 1911.
"We do not have an effective databank," Korobkov said. "Finding [all] the people in the service who were killed will require work."
He said the memorial is still just a proposal and nothing is definite yet.
"I'm not sure what stage it's on," said political science professor Robb McDaniel, who had Piche as a student. "To push this forward we'll probably have to wait for better information. It's a practical consideration."
McDaniel said that the memorial could be built in a couple of years.
"If it drags out too long there's the memory problem," McDaniel said. "The less fresh it is in our minds, the less motivation there is to go forward."
But "as long as the Iraq conflict goes on, it's a reminder of what we should do."
"[Piche] was a really good student. I still remember the seat he always sat in class," McDaniel said. "What he said was always sharp and penetrating, always prepared, and ready to engage ideas with the rest of the class."
"He's somebody who I would have expected to succeed," McDaniel said.
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