Members of the HerCampus Cal Poly community are going to be holding a memorial and candle lit vigil for Kristin Smart in honor of her anniversary of disappearance on Thursday, May 25, at 7pm. The event will be centered around the unveiling of a new plaque.
The original Kristin Smart plaque, created by Michelle Mueller in 2021, once sat proudly under a tree near the Santa Lucia dorms, was destroyed recently in a storm. This plaque was a way for students passing by to be visually reminded of the impact and legacy Smart has forever embedded in Cal Poly’s history.
Kristin Smart was a student who attended Cal Poly back in 1996. On May 25th, 1996, Smart attended a party on Crandall Way and was found passed out on the lawn afterwards. Two students helped her walk back to her Muir dorm on campus. Soon after, Paul Flores (who did not have a great reputation or name for himself on campus) joined the group, and offered to help Smart back as it was not far from where he lived – the Santa Lucia dorms. He claimed he would get her home safe.
Smart was never seen again after that night.
More recently, the story has resurfaced and experienced an extensive process of preliminary hearings, with eventually going to trial. Deemed as the “obsessive podcaster,” Chris Lambert came onto the scene with his successful podcast “Your Own Backyard”, as a way to resurface the case and bring light and justice to a young woman through his work. “…I really want to tell this story. I don’t know if I’m qualified to but nobody else is telling it right now, so I’ll give it a shot.”
Sahara Mofidi, Her Campus’s Event’s Coordinator, planned and structured this memorial along with Panhellenic VP of Philanthropy, Eve Stewart. Mofidi said that she wanted to dive into this event as Smart’s anniversary is an important one not soon to be forgotten – no matter how many years go by.
“As a woman, I have an intention of protecting myself, other women and individuals on our campus. This vigil will be a constant reminder of how knowledgeable and prepared we have to be to protect ourselves. I’m hoping the Cal Poly community will take Kristin Smart’s story as a reminder of protection and the vital change we need to make in our society and college campuses around the world. It’s important to remember that no matter how safe you think you are, unfortunately it takes one moment to change your life, and we hope this [memorial] will be the change we need to see.”
Stewart says that she hopes to organize this event every year until she graduates – ensuring that Smart always has a voice on Cal Poly’s campus. “It is an opportunity to honor her memory, to remember her as a person whose life was cut short too soon. She was a beautiful young woman with a bright future and no one deserves what was done to her. My hope for this vigil is that it becomes a powerful yet peaceful moment of celebration for her life. I hope to create a space where we not only remember Kristin and the inspiring soul she was, but also provide resources for people to join the fight against sexual assault so we can continue to heal from this tragedy and foster safety for women in our community.”
The memorial service and vigil is set to be an hour total. It will primarily focus on the unveiling of the new plaque, which will be permanently drilled into the tree which once provided a home for the original. Attendees can also expect to witness and participate in the planting of purple flowers underneath the tree, along with a honorary moment of silence. Attendees are encouraged to wear purple in remembrance of Smart and her family.
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