Remembering Rob Atkinson, Part II
The ongoing legacy of a Southwestern student killed in a car/pedestrian accident just off campus in December 2008
Southwestern student Robert Atkinson was killed a little after 8pm on Dec 4, 2008 while he was crossing University Avenue to get to his house off campus. His death shook the campus at the time, and there are still two memory places on campus devoted to him, one at the site of his death, and one inside the Kappa Sigma house. This entry focuses on the way Atkinson is remembered within the Kappa Sigma house.
Rob Atkinson was a senior Philosophy major and peace activist who was in the process of applying to public policy grad schools when he died in 2008. He was highly involved in campus life with his fraternity, Kappa Sigma, as well as SU Native, the Theater for Social Justice group, and the Student Peace Alliance. He also was the national legislative director for Student Peace Alliance, and in that role was actively working to create a cabinet-level U.S. Department of Peace.
The day after he died, people built two spontaneous shrines to Atkinson, one at the site of his death and one under the Broverhang on the side of the Kappa Sigma house. Many students who knew Atkinson contributed to the shrine and gathered there many times that semester and beyond to pay tribute to him.
I joined Kappa Sigma during the fall semester of 2021, about 11 years after the death of Rob Atkinson. There are currently 2 works of art within the house that Atkinson himself created. One of these is a painting of a dragon which is located in the kitchen; it is painted on the range hood above the stove. If you look very closely, just to the top right of the electrical switches, you can barely make out Atkinson’s signature and a message which has become almost too faded to read.
His mural has survived in the house relatively unscathed since at least 2008, which is very impressive considering the environment in which it is located. Being an organization associated with a university, students are constantly coming and going, so a brand new set of people occupy this space every four years. Despite this, everyone in the fraternity knows to leave the mural alone, even if we are not explicitly told this. In the early 2010’s, the kitchen underwent an extensive renovation. It was essentially gutted and rebuilt. That means that it was a conscious decision to leave the range hood intact as it is very outdated and is quite an eyesore. It has been broken for as long as I have been a member here. I do not think it would have remained after the renovation if Rob Atkinson’s mural was not located there, which emphasizes an ongoing effort to remember him.
The other work by Atkinson is this painting located in the ‘lumber room’. To be honest I am unsure of who the figure depicted in this painting represents or what the meaning of the text itself is. The mandala pattern and philosophical message suggests an Eastern artistic influence. More specifically, it includes elements that I had observed in Indian art when I took an Asian art history course. I believe that it is a spiritual message associated with peace. This aligns with Atkinson’s motivations to bring peace to the world as he was a part of the Student Peace Alliance.
At some point after Rob Atkinson’s death, the messages written on the left side of the painting were added by someone named ‘Jerm. I believe this to be Jeremy Delgado (although I am not 100% sure), as he was the only Jeremy to be pictured on the composite photos which include Rob Atkinson. It is clear that Jerm felt it was necessary to memorialize Atkinson so that anyone who saw his painting in the future would know who to associate it with.
For as long as I have been a member of Kappa Sigma this work has not been moved a single time. This is notable because in fraternity houses it is common for pictures and plaques to be hung on the wall carelessly. Wall hangings are often moved around, destroyed, or stolen during parties. There are very few items in this house that remain in their locations undisturbed for extended periods of time. Therefore, similarly to the mural on the range hood, I feel that members of Kappa Sigma feel a sense of responsibility to leave this painting alone.
Aside from these two works, Atkinson can be seen in three composite photos hanging up in the house. He is seen earliest in the 2006-2007 composite and most recently in the 2008-2009 composite.
These composite photos of Atkinson are unique from others in two ways. First, in two of these photos, Atkinson painted his face. I am unsure of what this face paint symbolized for Atkinson but it is clearly something he felt was important enough to repeat more than once. The design of the face paint has similar attributes to the dragon painting in the kitchen in that it has sharp lines and a pattern that resembles flames.
The composites which feature Rob Atkinson are also different from others in that they are not just held up by nails. Someone made the choice to use something more permanent to hang these on the wall because they are somehow fused with the wall. I actually did not know this until I attempted to take one of these composites off of the wall to get a better picture to post here. All other composites in the house are hung up with nails so that before parties we can take them down to store in a secure location (composites have been stolen in the past). The fact that they are so adhered to the walls and permanent suggests that this was done on purpose.
A common theme among all things associated with Rob Atkinson in the house is, either someone decided to make it impossible or much more difficult to remove Atkinson’s legacy, (as in the case of the composites) or collectively, members of the organization collectively know not to move or mess with items associated with or attributed to him.
Overall I cannot think of a single alumni of Kappa Sigma who is more ingrained in the collective minds of active members this long after they have been actives. Over the 13 years since Rob Atkinson’s death, members of Kappa Sigma collectively have informed newcomers of Atkinson’s legacy and his positive impact on the Southwestern University community and the world. With each passing year, Rob Atkinson is kept alive in the collective memory. I do not foresee the memory of Atkinson fading away anytime soon, even if his signature on the mural will soon be completely unreadable.
Finally, there is one other way Atkinson’s legacy continues well beyond campus. Atkinson was an organ donor, and on the one year anniversary of his death, Atkinson’s father wrote a message on his virtual memorial on the Kappa Sigma Iota Chapter’s website, to let everyone know that in addition to all the other ways Atkinson’s memory would live on, one of Atkinson’s corneas was used to restore sight for a 21-year-old who had been blinded by cornea disease. Atkinson’s father said, “part of Rob is still providing real vision here on Earth.” While his vision lives on literally within that person, it certainly lives on here on campus in a different form in the Sig house as well.
