On-campus memorials can be a tricky issue for students. There are questions about price, type, and location that are difficult to find answers for during the busy school semesters.
June Cummings, a sociology student at Carleton, said she was looking to plant a tree on campus in memory of a colleague, but that it was too expensive.
“It’s hindering and very expensive if you want to do this. As a student, I found it frustrating,” she said.
“I didn’t think it would be so official and such a big deal, I went to Facilities Management and Planning, but it seems that when I initiated this conversation, the department was in the process of changing it around,” Cummings said.
Initially, Cummings said she got a quote for a tree, which would cost $400 plus a five-year maintenance fee of $500, not including a plaque, which is a separate fee.
“There was a lot of confusion and it made no sense,” Cummings said.
Darryl Boyce, the assistant vice-president of facilities management and planning at Carleton, said the process of setting up memorials on campus is not easy due to Carleton’s long-term plan for campus development.
“We call it commemorative installation, and one thing that is fairly common is trees. If somebody wants to have a commemorative tree installed that we purchase, it’s around about $1,000,” he said.
According to Boyce, this includes the tree and the five-year maintenance “to keep it alive until it’s settled in.”
“If someone wants a plaque, depending on where and what, [it] would be around $2,300” he said.
Boyce added that the price for furniture, such as a bench, bicycle rack or study tables, can range from about $1,100 to $2,500.
Plaques in attached to furniture are a little bit less expensive, ranging from $100 to $1,200, he said.
Boyce said if a student wants to have a memorial put up on campus they can “send an email to the FMP department describing what you’re trying to do.”
“We are updating our information to put on the Carleton website to make it more available,” Boyce said.
Fahd Alhattab, Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) President, said the families of deceased students sometimes come to CUSA for help with paying for the cost of a memorial.
“The unfortunate thing is we have many students that pass away in a single year at Carleton and all the individuals, all their friends all their families deserve the respect that they do . . . But it makes it difficult to have a memorial plaque for everyone,” Alhattab said.
Alhattab said if someone needs financial assistance with a memorial on-campus, CUSA may be able to contribute some money on a case-by-case basis. He said the student association has helped one person with the cost of a memorial over the course of his time as president.
“It really is if the person is in need, they come to us [and] reach out. We sympathize with the family and we do what we can.”
Cummings said she was looking to commemorate Howard Needham, a Carleton professor who died of a heart attack on Canada Day last year. The two were together for 13 years.
“Howard Needham, who I called Scott, was a computer science student here many years ago and he returned to Carleton to be a professor which was his ultimate goal, his dream . . . He was given the opportunity to teach one semester and he did a lot of research for the department,” she said.
“He was my mentor as well as my ex-lover, he was my best friend. He was an amazing person and he loved Carleton, he loved his students and has given me so much and [to] so many other students on this campus,” Cummings said.
The Paul Menton Centre donated a bench for Cummings with a dedicated plaque, which can be found in front of the Herzberg Building to commemorate the hard work and passion he brought to Carleton.
