On the UCSC campus, there was mourning for the lives of the two young women [Rosalind Thorpe and Alice Liu].

About 1,000 students sat in unhappy silence as friends of the two girls shared their grief at a convocation called by Acting Chancellor M. Brewster Smith this morning.

With the walls of the former quarry throwing back echoes of her words to the students in the amphitheater, Merrill College lecturer and counselor Bonnie Ring said of her friend Rosalind:

“She was a big, bouncy, fun-loving, playful, but sometimes serious girl involved in risk taking, caring and loving. She was no saint, but a very special person. Her mother said one of the things she will miss most is her daughter’s big bear hug when she came home. She did most of the things she wanted to that’s why she hitchhiked” Ring said.

Robert Edgar, provost at Kresge College where Miss Liu attended, said simply:

“Alice was bright and lovely. Like a bird, she was full of song. Now she is struck down. I’m full of sorrow.”

“What happened needn’t have happened, and needn’t happen again,” Ring told the silent convocation. “Take an active stand,” she urged. “If we need better busing, let’s ask for it; if we need better lighting, let’s ask for that. Let’s do what we can.”

The University Chamber Singers ended the convocation with the singing of a 15th Century memorial mass.

Source: “Slaying Victims Named As Missing UCSC Coeds”, Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 21, 1973