Scholarship honors memory of slain student

Two students will receive scholarships honoring the memory of slain IU student Won-Joon Yoon at this afternoon's award banquet.\nWon-Joon Yoon was a graduate student in the school of education when he was murdered in the summer of 1999. The shooting took place in front of the Korean Methodist Church, 1924 E. Third St., over the Fourth of July weekend.\nHis killer, Benjamin Smith, a former IU student, was a follower of the World Church of the Creator, a white supremacist organization that was active on campus in the years before 1999.\nSmith killed Yoon as part of a three-state killing spree that also left former Northwestern University men's head basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong dead. Smith's rampage ended in southern Illinois when he took his own life after a massive police manhunt and standoff.\nIn the wake of those events, IU President Myles Brand established the Won-Joon Yoon Memorial Scholarship to honor students who foster understanding and tolerance along racial and religious divisions at IU.\n"The tragic events of the 1999 Fourth of July weekend renewed our determination to ensure that diversity, civility and inclusiveness are known far and wide as the bedrock values of Indiana University," Brand said in a statement.\nHe added that the establishment of a memorial scholarship was "a way of giving form to that resolve. This memorial scholarship was established to provide financial support for IU Bloomington students to honor the memory of Won-Joon Yoon."\nThis year's recipients are Sheila Lalwani, a senior from Mishawaka, Ind., and Shaila Danielle Mulholland, a graduate student from Indianapolis.\nLalwani, a former IDS employee, is an honors student in the School of Journalism. She has also worked for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Elkhart Truth and the South Bend Tribune and interned at WTHI-TV in Terre Haute. In 2001, Lalwani was honored by the Scripps Howard Foundation in 2001 as its "most valuable staffer."\nReceiving the award means a lot to Lalwani, even though it appears to be bittersweet. \n"First of all, I'm sorry that such a scholarship exists," she said. "As for what it means to me to me, it is a great honor. Won-Joon Yoon was a fine student, and I am proud to be associated with his name."\nMulholland graduated from the College of Arts and Science in 2001 with a bachelor of arts in biology degree. She is now enrolled as a graduate student in the School of Education and works for the Office of Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs. She is also an assistant to the Commission on Multicultural Affairs and is a member of IU's Racial Incidents Team.\nWhile an undergraduate, Mulholland was a community educator in the residence halls and created programs that dealt with race, religion, gender, national identity and sexuality. \nPam Freeman, associate Dean of Students, oversees the work of Mulholland for the Office of Student Ethics. \n"She a very, very outstanding Graduate Assistant," Freeman said. "She is extremely dedicated to diversity and has gone above the beyond the requirements of a Graduate Assistant. She is a very accomplished student and well deserving of the Won-Joon Yoon Scholarship"