Women's Rights & Issues

niyad

(113,275 posts) Tue Apr 21, 2015, 09:30 PM Apr 2015

Feminists Mourn the Loss of Activist Grace Mann

Feminists Mourn the Loss of Activist Grace Mann

Feminist activist Grace Rebecca Mann, a 20-year-old University of Mary Washington student, was killed in her home on Friday.

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Grace was found unconscious by her two female roommates on Friday, one of whom called 911 and attempted to administer CPR. She was pronounced dead upon being taken to the hospital. Police have charged one of her other roommates, Steven Vander Briel, a fellow student, with first-degree murder and abduction. He is currently being held without bond.

Grace was a junior studying history, American studies and practical ethics, was a leader and activist on the Mary Washington Campus. She served on the executive board for Feminists United, in the student government senate, and recently was appointed to the President’s Task Force on Sexual Assault, a group Mary Washington President Richard Hurley created in part because of the efforts by Feminists United to combat sexual assault and rape culture on campus. She was passionate about women’s rights, civil rights, and gender equality.She was an outstanding and inspiring leader.

“As an individual, she worked with administration to create better sexual assault policies on campus,” said Paige McKinsey, Grace’s friend and the President of Feminists United. “As publicity chair of Feminists United, Grace helped plan events such as Take Back the Night. As an American Studies major, Grace focused her studies on the mass incarceration rates of underprivileged communities with hopes of becoming a lawyer to one day serve those communities. As a friend, Grace brought love and joy into every interaction and every person she came across.”

“The entire Feminist Majority Foundation community mourns the tragic loss of Grace Mann,” said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “In life, she inspired all of us in the fight for equality and against senseless violence. In her memory, we will renew and strengthen the struggle to end violence against women.”

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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2015/04/21/feminists-mourn-the-loss-of-activist-grace-mann/

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Man-Charged-in-Slaying-of-Va-Student-Due-in-Court-Tuesday-300759071.html

. . . .
Judge's daughter, 20, 'choked to death by male college roommate in the University of Mary Washington home they shared'

Grace Rebecca Mann, 20, was found unconscious Friday afternoon by two female roommates at their home in Fredericksburg, Virginia
The fourth roommate, Steven Vander Briel, 30, was at home but fled
He was arrested a few later emerging from woods near church
Briel was charged with first-degree murder and abduction
Mann, a popular junior, reportedly had a plastic bag down her throat
Her father Thomas Mann is a juvenile and domestic relations court judge in Fairfax County

A 20-year-old University of Mary Washington student was found murdered on Friday in Virginia and her older male roommate has now been arrested and charged with the killing. Grace Rebecca Mann, 20, was found unconscious by two female roommates in the home they shared in Fredericksburg, near the college campus, about 3pm.

Local reports say Mann was asphyxiated and found with a plastic bag stuffed into her throat, however police have not commented on the cause of death.

The fourth roommate of the house, Steven Vander Briel, 30, was home when the two women stumbled upon the body, but ran out of the house, according to Fredericksburg.com.

One of the women started to perform CPR as the other called 911.

Mann - the daughter of a juvenile and domestic relations court judge in Fairfax County - was rushed to Mary Washington Hospital, but pronounced dead shortly after arriving.

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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3044470/Judge-s-daughter-20-choked-death-male-college-roommate-University-Mary-Washington-home-shared.html#ixzz3XztUwFyk