Officer Sean Collier. Courtesy of Somerville Police Department.
The following essay was written by MIT graduate student Sara Ferry the day after Sean’s death:
Officer Sean Collier was my friend, and the friend of many of my friends.
To give you an idea of the type of person he was:
He was friendly. He hung out at the Thirsty Ear a lot with the bartenders chatting. Recently, we were talking about the campus shooter scare of several weeks ago, and talking about how scary it was, and how we could make the campus safer. He was planning on starting a new job. He mentioned maybe joining the military at some point. He was so excited for his future, and was completely committed to dedicating his life to serving his community. We talked about throwing him a going away party to thank him for his service to our campus, and to celebrate the fact he might actually get to come hang out at the Thirsty in plainclothes a bit more.
He was so very helpful. When someone was breaking into my lab several months ago to steal scrap metal, the MIT police took our reports very seriously and caught the person within days. Sean offered to make a special point of coming by my lab on nights that my friends and I were working late to check on us.
He cared about the students. He loved my beloved MIT family: the residents past and present of Burton Third. When our DTYD hack this year went up, he messaged me to let me know he had heard it called in on the scanners, and could I please send him a photo since he didn’t get to see it before it was taken down? He worked detail at our party on Sunday, and mentioned beforehand that he was looking forward to it, because it had been a fun detail in the past. He messaged me after to say he had a good time. “[Burton 3rd] is good shit,” he said. BTB, you are the reason that my undergraduate years at MIT were filled with the best friends anyone could hope for, countless crazy nights of constant laughter, and stories that sometimes seem too ridiculous to believe. Sean loved you guys, and he – and the other amazing officers of our campus police force – is part of the reason that our floors’ cherished traditions and friendships are able to continue and grow year after year.
Boston area police officers attend Sean Collier’s Memorial service on Briggs Field. Courtesy of Tamas Kolos-Lakatos.
Sean loved the hacking community of MIT. To every one of us who has donned a Jack Florey shirt, who has found herself or himself crawling through a hidden tunnel or along a deserted rooftop of our beloved campus looking out over our beloved Cambridge and Boston from our secret vantage points, who has been on their way to Baker House, who has a collection of faded orange buttons in a drawer, who has spent a long night camped out in a ceiling (climbing gear and headlamp in tow) just to know that the the anonymous-but-oh-so-worth-it results of their hack will grace the campus the next morning: Sean was an amazing ally. Like so many of the MIT police officers, he loved our efforts and cared deeply about our safety. You were a huge part of the reason that he loved this campus and its students and its uniquely weird and brilliant culture.
He loved being outdoors. He had just bought a new truck. He was not much older than you, or perhaps he is younger.
He knew I was watching the marathon on Monday and was one of the first people to text me to make sure I was okay. Last night, he texted me at 10:30 to see if I’d be bartending at the Thirsty Ear that night — he was thinking about stopping by after his shift ended and hanging out with the students at our weekly karaoke night. He never responded to my text back hoping that he was safe.
Courtesy of Tamas Kolos-Lakatos.
Keep the MIT police in your thoughts. They are a kind, dedicated, hardworking part of our community. The extent to which they care about the well-being of the students and every faculty and staff member is inspiring and stems from a deep and genuine love of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Boston is my heart, Cambridge is my home, and MIT is where I’ve had the amazing privilege to live my life, working on the projects I love with the people I adore, for nearly six years. I love you all. When you’re tooling on psets as the semester wraps up, remember that they don’t matter. But the person who wrote the pset, the person who’s grading it, the person who’s working on it with you at 3 AM, the person who’s smiling hello as they clean up the reading room, the person who’s teaching the class? They matter.
Think of Sean Collier today. He’s a genuine hero and the best of what our campus represents.
I love you MIT. Mens et manus, and IHTFP. (second meaning.)
by Sara E. Ferry