University of Virginia Library

BSA To March In Tribute
To Slain Southern Students

By GEORGE LYON

Student Council officers
have endorsed a silent
candlelight march tonight in
tribute to Denver Smith and
Leonard Douglas Brown, the
two Southern University
students who were slain in a
confrontation with police Nov.
16 in Baton Rouge, La.

The march begins at
Courtenay House at 6 p.m. and
ends at Cabell Hall, where
Congressman Ronald V.
Dellums (D-Calif,) speaks at 8
tonight on "Coalition Politics."

'Deaths Inexcusable'

"We here at the University
of Virginia feel that the deaths
of these two students at the
hands of the police are
intolerable and inexcusable,"
stated the BSA. "We ask the
entire University community
to participate in a march of
silence in tribute to Denver
Smith and Leonard Douglas
Brown."

Council officers had
previously issued a statement
expressing their "shock and
anguish at the brutal killings at
Southern University."

"Students are deeply
concerned and dismayed by
the contradictory and evasive
statements made by state, local
and university officials
subsequent to this terrible
incident," they said "Of
greatest importance, they
continued, "is the still
unanswered question of what
made such a confrontation
necessary. At most universities,
student grievances are heard
and reviewed by administrators
without the trickery and deceit
which characterized the recent
requests at Southern. And,
certainly, they can always be
handled without bloodshed."

Establishing Scholarship

The BSA, in coordination
with the University President's
office and also with the
endorsement of the Council
officers, is establishing the
Denver Smith-Leonard D.
Brown Memorial Scholarship
Fund, to be awarded annually
to two black first-year men.

Contributions to the fund
are being taken starting today
at Cabell Hall, Newcomb Hall,
and the Chemistry Building.
Contributions, the BSA said,
are tax-deductible.

Nixon Critic

Mr. Dellums is
one of three black members of
the House of Representatives
from primarily white districts.
He is a defender of the Black
Panthers and a critic of the
Nixon Administration.