UNC junior Laura Hartley writes a message to former UNC student body president Eve Carson after the dedication of the Eve Marie Carson Garden on Thursday. “She was the first person I met here,” Hartley said about Carson, who was her counselor at summer freshmen camp. “You told me to GO FOR IT! and I have. Thanks Eve,” Hartley’s message read.
By Gregory Childress
gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645
Chapel Hill -- Eve Carson, the UNC student body president who was murdered in March 2008, had a reputation for bringing people together.
She did the same Thursday, bringing more than 400 people together to dedicate the Eve Marie Carson Garden created in her memory.
"Isn't this a beautiful space," said UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp. "This is a perfect spot for people to sit in quiet contemplation, to read, to visit with one another and to enjoy the day."
While named after Carson, the garden, located on Polk Place behind the Campus Y, honors all UNC students past and future who die before they graduate.
"In honor of their lives, the garden is a place for reflection and celebration," Thorp said.
The garden was a project of UNC's Student Government, Division of Student Affairs, Auxiliary Services and Facilities Services.
It was funded by private donations from Student Affairs, Auxiliary Services, past student body presidents and friends of Carson.
"This project is an outstanding example of the best efforts of collaboration at UNC, people coming together with ideas and creativity under difficult circumstances to envision a place of hope, community and of life," said Peggy Jablonski, vice chancellor for student affairs who read a moving poem titled "Ordinary Miracles' that she wrote for the dedication ceremony.
The garden includes a seating area that orients people toward Polk Place. The seating area features a blue stone seat set in a traditional campus Chatham stone wall, and the inscription wall is made of Georgia marble in honor of Carson's home state.
Students and others joined to plant about two dozen ferns and other plants shortly after the ceremony.
Bob Winston, chairman of the UNC board of trustees, noted that March has become Carson's month on the UNC campus.
"What better month to connect with Eve's memory than this one, when spring comes to the South," Winston said. "And what better way to remember and celebrate than with a garden."
Winston said Carson inspired her family (her mother, father, brother and an aunt attended the ceremony but did not take part in the dedication), fellow students, trustees and professors to work harder.
"We will always remember her enthusiasm and her persistence," Winston said. "She was a wonderful person and this garden is a fitting way to remember someone who has made such a special impact on this university."
UNC student body president Jasmin Jones said Thursday was a day for reflection, and a time to "pause and appreciate the people around us and the greatness of the world."
She said she remembers Carson as a compassionate and knowledgeable leader.
"I remember Eve as my leader who could talk for hours about the chancellor search and who had tears in her eyes after an event that my committee held about diversity."
Seth Dearmin, UNC's student body president during the 2005-06 academic year said students learned to become better people through Carson.
"Eve was about leading us to give, teach and act more for our fellow citizens," Dearmin said. "She embodied the best characteristics of leadership. She believed in us and we believed in her."
Dearmin and about 50 other former student body presidents joined to raise about $50,000 for the garden.
