El Pomar Center turned blue Saturday night.
The tribute to fallen UCCS Police Officer Garrett Swasey was an impromptu effort by campus staff members who used stage lights with gels to change the tower from white to blue.
“We — a police dispatcher, Ben Sloan, Doug Martin, Tungsten Alcazar and I – just thought it was the right thing to do,” Kirk Moore, director, Computing Services, said. “We weren’t sure our ideas would work but I am glad they did as a way of honoring Officer Swasey and police officers everywhere.”
As the image of a blue El Pomar Center projected across Colorado Springs, the community, state and nation directed its attention at the university and doing what it could to remember Swasey and assist his family.
Courtney McNeilly, a business student, and member of Delta Sigma Pi fraternity, organized a vigil Nov. 28, less than 24 hours after Swasey was identified as the police officer killed while responding to shooting at the Planned Parenthood Clinic about four miles west of campus. News of the vigil, posted initially only to Facebook, quickly spread and was broadcast by Colorado Springs television stations and other media outlets.
University Center staff members, some still on Thanksgiving break, scrambled to make the vigil possible, opening up buildings and doing what they could to help the students produce a successful event.
The vigil drew 600 to 700 people who listened to comments from UCCS Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak, Mayor John Suthers, Brian McPike, chief, UCCS Police, and two leaders of Swasey’s church. Some Swasey family members, state legislators, Colorado Springs City Council members and El Paso County commissioners were in the crowd and more than 20 television cameras recorded the event, sharing it with the world.
Prior to the vigil, Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak, members of the UCCS police department and members of the men’s and women’s basketball teams led moments of silence prior to their respective Saturday games. Shockley-Zalabak and McPike also met with reporters.
As the men’s basketball team members raised their arms with taped wrists bearing Swasey’s initials, onlookers were surprised to see the opposing team from Ottawa (Kansas) University do the same.
“That really impressed me,” Shockley-Zalabak said of the actions by Ottawa. “I sent a note to their president right away telling him that his team had been respectful of our officer and that I was appreciative.”
The team from Ottawa was not the only student group to show support.
Resident assistants in the Department of Student Life and Housing quickly made memorial ribbons with Swasey’s picture and asked to distribute U.S. flags to those who line Austin Bluffs Parkway for the processional. Another group thought of selling #UCCSSTRONG bands with proceeds to go to the family. Development staff members quickly worked with the family to set up a scholarship fund in Swasey’s memory.
Shockley-Zalabak rattled off the calls of support she had received including the White House, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, John Suthers, U.S. senators and presidents of other colleges in Colorado.
For Brian McPike and the UCCS Police Department, the response was just as strong. Police chiefs from other CU campuses offered to cover campus duties so officers could attend Swasey’s funeral, and departments from New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas and many other states will participate in a motorcade as a way to pay their respects.
Supporters have also rallied behind the Swasey family. Hundreds donated to a fund to support the family. After reaching its goal, the family now suggests donations to the Officer Garrett Swasey Scholarship Fund, https://giving.cu.edu/fund/officer-garrett-swasey-scholarship.
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