AU in process of establishing scholarship in memory of Burk

Auburn University is in the process of creating a scholarship fund to honor freshman Lauren Burk, who was killed March 4.

Vice President for Development Bob McGinnis said Auburn wants to fulfill the wishes of those who have inquired through his office about a local scholarship fund, while being respectful of the Burk family during this period of mourning.

When the time is right, McGinnis said he will work with the family to ensure they get the kind of memorial scholarship they want for their daughter on the Plains.

A similar fund has already been established at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, where James (Jim) Burk and Viviane Guerchon, Lauren Burk’s parents, met in the early 1980s.

The endowed scholarship was made possible through the generosity of family friends, Jim’s colleagues at Morgan Stanley and community members who wished to show their concern for the Burk family and honor Lauren.

The Lauren Ashley Burk Memorial Scholarship Fund will be awarded annually to an Oglethorpe student studying art.

“Lauren Burk was the light in the lives of many,” said Oglethorpe President Lawrence M. Schall. “Oglethorpe University is extremely honored to have been chosen to be part of her legacy. Through this scholarship, Lauren will continue to have a lasting impact on the lives of others.”

At Auburn and other campuses where Burk’s friends attend, students have been selling wristbands in her memory, with proceeds going to the Oglethorpe fund.

Jay Seyfried, an Auburn student who graduated from Walton High School in Marietta, Ga., two years before Burk, said more than 1,000 have been sold so far from Walton, University of Georgia, Ole Miss, Georgia Southern, University of South Carolina, Clemson and Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta.

He also established a Web site, http://www.laurenburkmemorial.com, to sell them beyond the Southeast.

The wristbands are lime green - one of Burk’s favorite colors - with a heart, her initials and the line, “We live in a beautiful world,” from her favorite Coldplay song, he said.

Burk died March 4 after suffering a single gunshot wound. She was found lying the roadway of Highway 147 just after 9 p.m. Her car was found that same evening on fire in a parking lot on the AU campus.

Courtney L. Lockhart, 23 of Smiths Station, has been charged, in connection to her death, with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a robbery and capital murder during an attempted rape.

He is currently being held without bond. A preliminary hearing in the case has been scheduled for April 23, in District Judge Russell Bush’s Lee County courtroom.