Posted on 04/11/2009 4:28:44 PM PDT by Chet 99
Gathered in a circle of campus benches, seven friends spent the first afternoon of Gettysburg College's spring break searching for the right words to describe the two who were missing.
He is an honor-roll student whose witty sense of humor and eclectic taste in music drove him to head the campus radio station this year, the friends said.
She was an eternal optimist with a passion for activism who helped to establish a campus chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society.
At times, they still spoke of their friend Emily Silverstein in the present tense, as if her lifeless body had not been found the day before in the apartment of another friend, her ex-boyfriend.
No one can defend what police allege Kevin Schaeffer did, but the seven friends insisted the 21-year-old history major is a good person, who might have done a bad thing.
He is not a monster, they said.
"We're not in support of what could have happened," said Patrick Hughes, one of the seven. "But the fact is this was a friend. These are our friends."
Like all of the campus community, the friends said they were shocked to learn Thursday of Silverstein's violent death, which police say was at the hands of her ex-boyfriend.
"You can't put it together," said another friend, Lamin Oo, 23. "I didn't want to believe it."
Gettysburg Police found Silverstein fatally stabbed and strangled in a Carlisle Street apartment Thursday. Schaeffer, who lived in the apartment, was charged with criminalhomicide, aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime and tampering with physical evidence. He is being held at Adams County prison without bail.
The yearlong relationship between Silverstein and Schaeffer, which ended recently, had never been marred by domestic violence, friends said.
Some said they'd never even seen Schaeffer angry.
"In simple words, he's a good guy," said Hughes, a junior.
Silverstein's friends described her as an active member of Amnesty International and a resident of the campus Peace House -- where students interested in human rights and environmental issues can choose to live.
"It's kind of very ironic that this would happen," Hughes said.
Residents of the Peace House have started a memorial of candles, flowers and pictures for Silverstein on the front lawn at 249 Carlisle St., just down the road from where her body was discovered by police.
Friends described Silverstein as a vegetarian and a liberal. She was studying Arabic and had plans to study abroad in Morocco in the fall.
As for Schaeffer, the group said he, too, was actively involved in campus activities and had big plans. Having recently completed his senior thesis on the plight of Native Americans, Schaeffer's friends said he seemed drawn to that cause.
Hughes said Schaeffer had talked about joining the Peace Corps -- an indication, Hughes said, that Schaeffer was on an altruistic path.
A faculty adviser for the college radio station, Bret Crawford, said he knew Schaeffer as a quiet student who was responsible for managing the student staff.
"I'd be shocked that any of our students would potentially have done this. Kevin's no exception," Crawford said. "He seemed to be a good-natured and responsible student, so it's shocking."
Yeah. I think as the other poster implied, it was a given. That said, I don’t think we need to go into liberalism as the root cause.
One can make the argument that liberalism WAS a root cause for his immaturity, stupidity, inability to deal with reality and propensity for violence, but I feel it is better to let that dog lie at this time.
Stupid liberals. Stupid, stupid, stupid. “He was a good person who did a bad thing”. They are so infantile! They can’t even call a murderous thug a murderous thug!
I do agree with the Kool Aid drinker that a couple of peaceniks involved in a brutal homicide is pretty darn ironic!
"...Her relatives were anti-war protesters and anti-imperialists, she said. And she was raised in a community specifically chosen by her parents for its reputation for activism...."
The kind of people I detest. Even still, I cannot wish this on anyone. I can pray for them even though I detest what they stand for. The kids sound brainwashed.
The typical liberals who got mugged. Right you are.
“These are stupid kids doing what stupid college kids do - the whole liberal save-the-world-from-evil-America thing, not slamming knives into each other.”
Yea - maybe for some “saving the world” is a phase they outgrow. But it was not a phase for the millions of people here and in Europe who are determined to destroy Western Society, and are just about there in Europe (via Muslim immigration and draconian laws against free speech), and are pushing very hard in this country. It also is was not a phase for the people that almost gave Al Gore the 2000 election...it was a lot more than just college students.
These are not 4 year old kids playing doctor, these are calculating, evil, adults, with very sick minds. A well-functioning society would have locked them up long ago (i.e., you can advocate change through the democratic process, but not through violent revolution, as SDS strives for), but we’re now amused by them, as they take over education, local government, state government, Congress, the Judiciary, and now have their finger on the button.
It is only when Conservatives understand just who they are up against and what must be done to stop them, will our society have any chance.
Unfortunately, it often seems to be a lost cause.
What do you mean? Not sure.
Gum-by-yah meets evil.
In my 58 years, I have never seen a hard-left kid raised by anything but mushy liberal parents. I believe that there was a book quite awhile back, maybe authored by Midge Decter(?), titled Liberal Parents, Radical Children, something like that, and in general, I believe it. I remember my friends and relatives raised by the sort-of dingy, ‘lefter’ fringe of liberals, and nearly all turned out to be even ‘lefter’ than the folks (and often the angry variety, too, but not always). I do think that hard-left kids overwhelmingly spring from a certain variety of liberal home, sort of like Rachael Corrie’s folks, who let her go to a very dangerous part of the world and meddle in the politics by demonstrating, there. And who but committed liberals would pay what it costs to send their kids to such a school? Not being censorious here, just reporting what I have observed time and again over many years.
I don't really think that's true, anymore, if it was ever true. Leftism is reaching critical mass in parts of this country (probably already has, sadly), and that discourages growth after college. Truly dedicated, leftwing colleges do a bang-up, long-term job of indoctrinating those who entered with leftish sentiments, anyway.
I pray the parents and family eventually find some peace and solace. How tragic to lose a child at any age, but when it’s one so young and the death is in a manner so brutal and senseless, I can imagine that the pain is felt even more keenly. It doesn’t matter how grown up they seem, they’re always your baby. God bless them in this horrible time.
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