Since the death of highly involved student leader Cynthia Rabuy
in a traffic collision last week, her peers, colleagues and
relatives have spent the last few days reflecting on her life and
working on plans to memorialize her.
Students from several entities on campus ““ including
Samahang Pilipino, the Center for Student Programming, the
Community Programs Office and the Associated Students of UCLA
““ have organized a memorial service for Rabuy for Wednesday
in the James West Alumni Center.
Rabuy was killed late Wednesday night when a vehicle struck her
car on the southbound 405 Freeway as she was driving home to Culver
City.
The California Highway Patrol found that the driver of the
assaulting car, who survived, was driving while intoxicated.
This driver was booked by the Los Angeles Police Department for
vehicular manslaughter, and the CHP is currently investigating the
incident.
The memorial, scheduled to last from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., will be
attended by many members of Rabuy’s immediate and extended
family, said her sister Marlo Beall.
“They want to get a better understanding of what she did
(at UCLA),” Beall said. “The majority of the family
didn’t know a fraction of what she did.”
While at UCLA, Rabuy could have been considered a
jack-of-all-trades in the campus community. Her more recognizable
positions included a stint as the 2000-2001 financial supports
commissioner for the Undergraduate Students Association Council,
and as chairwoman and vice-chairwoman of the student-majority
ASUCLA board of directors.
USAC is currently working on a resolution to recognize the life
and work of Rabuy, but it is not likely to be presented this
week.
“I know councilmembers close to her that want to pass a
resolution recognizing her accomplishments and her as a
person,” said Facilities Commissioner Adam Pearlman.
“But we want to allow an appropriate amount of time to
pass.”
He added that council has discussed taking separate actions
involving stances on driving under the influence.
Some of the newer student members of the board were grateful to
Rabuy for her mentorship and help in getting them acclimated to the
position.
“She was really helpful. … She encouraged me to speak up
and jump right in,” said Dria Fearn, who joined the board
this past year.
Fearn added that Rabuy disregarded their differing political
backgrounds ““ Fearn having run on the Students United for
Reform and Equality slate and Rabuy having served on the
Praxis/Student Empowerment! contingent ““Â to work toward
common goals for the association.
“She and I both came from different backgrounds,”
Fearn said. “But we both saw eye-to-eye.”
ASUCLA plans are in the works to memorialize Rabuy either in
Ackerman Student Union or Kerckhoff Hall, but nothing has been
finalized.
Beall said Rabuy’s interests extended far beyond her
service to UCLA ““ she also worked for Unicamp, a campus
outreach program for the larger Los Angeles community, and Bruin
Partners, which provides one-on-one tutoring and mentoring for
fifth- and sixth-grade students in Culver City.
She was an avid basketball player and excelled at badminton; she
even fit some martial arts classes at the John Wooden Center into
her schedule. And at night, she would participate in exhibitions
for Samahang’s annual Pilipino Culture Night, for which she
was practicing up until the night of her death.
Rabuy was also in the final quarter of her academic career at
UCLA, putting the finishing touches on minors in education and
public policy. She completed her English major requirements last
quarter.
Because of this, there are efforts being made to have
Rabuy’s degrees awarded to her posthumously, according to
Beall and Berky Nelson, director of the Center for Student
Programming.
The College of Letters & Science has a provision for
posthumous degrees that accommodates students who maintained a 2.0
grade point average and were within one quarter of completing their
degrees.
Such requests are handled by the vice provost for undergraduate
education in the College, and then forwarded to the Dean of
Students Office for consideration.