Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
Hundreds of community members gathered Friday evening during a procession and vigil to honor Erick Munene Njue, the University of Oregon student who died in a vehicle collision while riding his bike Jan. 25.
Gerlinger Lounge could not contain the mass of loved ones who gathered Friday to honor the University of Oregon student killed in a vehicle collision while riding his bike last weekend.
A few hundred UO students, faculty and community members mourned and celebrated the life of Erick Munene Njue, a 30-year-old doctoral candidate at UO and former high school teacher in Kenya.
Njue’s procession began at the corner of 22nd Avenue and Patterson Street, where Njue was killed. A white bicycle adorned with flowers was placed there, along with signs reading “Slow down.”
Dr. Rhonda Nese, an associate professor in the university’s Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences, said during the vigil at Gerlinger Hall on the UO campus that Njue was “joy.”
“One thing I can promise is his death will not be in vain,” Nese said, announcing that Njue’s life would be honored through the College of Education Memorial Scholarship to support students – especially international students like himself.
“His life will be honored through the safety measures that so many in our community are pushing the city to enact on Patterson Street,” Nese continued in between rounds of applause, “and will continue to push until those changes are made.”
UO’s Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation called Njue a “treasured and dedicated member of the GTFF community” and who served as the labor union’s steward of special education. Njue had also just begun a four-year term with the Oregon State Legislative Higher Education Coordination Commission.
Those who attended the vigil remembered Njue as a leader, a mentor and mentee, a runner, an endless source of energy and smiles, a young and brilliant mind, a proud Christian and man of God, their biggest supporter and motivator, and a babysitter who quickly shed that title for “uncle.”
He was funny, too, Nese said, recounting when she had broken her finger three years ago while playing kickball. Hearing the reason for her injury, Njue looked at her puzzled, then remarked, “Dr. Nese, kickball sounds like a sport you play with your feet.”
“Leave it to Erick to coolly make fun of me while couching it in curiosity,” she said, laughing.
Attendees of the three-hour vigil spilled out of the room and downstairs. Throughout both floors were poster boards of remarks from people who had met, befriended, worked with and loved Njue.
“The news of your passing has come with utmost shock to me and thousands of others especially the African International community.”
The vigil’s program included a Mugithi dance, traditional to the Kikuyu community in Kenya, and an east African song performed by Rebeccah Kithi. Several loved ones attended the vigil in east African textiles of brilliant orange palm shadows, geometric shapes of diamonds and triangles, gold suns and earthy greens and blues.
For many who spoke at the vigil, Njue didn’t need to know you to take care of you, and the love and laughter he shared every day deserved to be carried on.
In his remarks, Jimmy Howard, assistant dean of students at the University of Oregon, recited the end of Maya Angelou’s poem, “When Great Trees Fall”.
“They existed. They existed,” Howard spoke to the crowd. “We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.”
Njue’s family is currently raising donations to return his body to Kenya for burial.
‘We will not forget’
Njue’s death marks the second bicyclist fatality this year and the third since August: A 63-year-old man, Merle Dean Sheffield, died days after being struck by a vehicle Jan. 3 while riding a bicycle at Highway 99 and Side Street in northwest Eugene. On Aug. 10, Elizabeth Cardenas Figueroa, a 21-year-old University of Oregon student, died Aug. 18, 10 days after she was hit by a car while riding her bicycle in a crosswalk.
The University of Oregon Transportation and Livability Student Group, or LiveMove, urged Eugene city officials in a statement Thursday to take “immediate and sustained action” to protect bicyclists and other non-motorists.
“Most streets in Eugene are designed to encourage fatal driving behavior,” stated the student-led group, which advocates and plans for safe, accessible transportation systems.
LiveMove members created a template for residents to email Eugene city officials with their public safety concerns. Other advocates have expressed alarm at a recent rise in traffic fatalities in Eugene.
“Erick should still be with us right now,” LiveMove stated. “They all should be. We will not forget Erick Munene Njue. We will not forget Merle Dean Sheffield. We will not forget Elizabeth Cardenas Figueroa.”
Jaime Adame contributed to this report.
