At 12:01 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 1, approximately 90 Whitman College students, faculty, and staff gathered in front of Penrose Library for a moment of silence in honor of Michael Brown. Brown, an unarmed African-American eighteen-year-old, was killed by police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Missouri. Last Monday, Nov. 24, a St. Louis grand jury announced that it would not indict Wilson on murder charges.

The moment of silence was organized by Whitman’s Black Student Union and lasted 4.5 minutes. According to the event’s Facebook page, this was to symbolize the 4.5 hours that Brown’s body was left in the street after his death. Senior Alisha Agard spoke to the crowd about her personal reactions to the grand jury’s decision. She expressed her disappointment regarding the decision but stated that she felt empowered to continue fighting for equality. She said, “Now is not the time for silence or complacency. We have got to start confronting issues of race and meeting those conversations head on.”