More than 50 members of the University community gathered at the International Culture Center on the second anniversary of the Dec. 13 on-campus double homicide to remember the lives of the two Indian graduate students who were murdered.Students and administrators gathered for a symbolic groundbreaking of the Komma and Allam Remembrance Garden, which includes a fountain, an overlook to University Lake and a pedestrian path through landscaped gardens.”I have been emotionally affected by this event, and it’s not behind us,” said William Jenkins, LSU System President Emeritus. “This is a tangible, definitive sing that LSU cares.”Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam were killed in the Edward Gay apartments Dec. 13 2007 in an apparent home invasion robbery. Three men were arrested as suspects for still-unsolved crime, but only one of the three men, Devin Parker, has been indicted. Parker faces a criminal trial in the coming months. Anusha Vedagiri, electrical engineering graduate student, opened the memorial service with “A Prayer Song to Ganesh,” a traditional Indian hymn sung to bring a smooth work process to big projects beginning. Ping Xu, president of the International Student Association and ICC, said student efforts lead to the remembrance garden’s creation. Student Government, Student Life, ISA, ICC and the International Indian Student Association contributed to the project, which Xu said will beautify the area around the ICC and well as “remind us of their lives.”Dennis Mitchell, LSU landscape architect who worked with students on the project, said the remembrance garden’s center — a fountain with a globe atop a pedestal with water flowing from four sides into the pedestal — will serve as a “center to gather and reflect.” The fountain area will be landscaped and will incorporate a mosaic and colored glass.Mitchell said the second component of the garden is a memorial overlook, which will be directly behind the ICC building and overlook University Lake. The area will also include updated crosswalks and paths for pedestrians and joggers, including a future sidewalk running behind the ICC as part of the project’s later phases. University administrators — including Residential Life director Steve Waller and Associate Dean of Student Advocacy and Accountability Eric Norman — as well as Student Government Vice President Martina Scheuermann attended the event in addition to friends and family of Komma and Allam, members of the ICC and ISA and others in the LSU community. Komma and Allam also have an oak tree endowed in their honor. Their tree stands outside the Life Sciences Annex, where the two doctoral students taught, learned and researched. It was dedicated the semester following the two student’s death.- – – -Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected]