The University held a memorial service Friday for Linda Colligan, a former University preceptor and Princeton Justice Project (PJP) adviser who died March 12. Friends and family gathered in the University Chapel to celebrate her life and remember her dedication to promoting justice.
"She was caring, kindhearted, generous and good-humored ... but most of all our family thanks God for giving us a very special daughter, sister and sister-in-law, because that's what she was," said Doris Colligan, Linda's mother.
Bill Potter '68 and politics professor Kiki Jamieson spoke at the service as Colligan's friends and colleagues, and Chris Lloyd '06 and Brittany Hume '05 recounted her commitment to the PJP. Rutgers politics professor Gordon Schochet, Colligan's dissertation adviser, and Dean of Religious Life Thomas Breidenthal also spoke.
"What impressed us the most was how she really reached out and touched so many people," Doris Colligan said in an interview.
One description connecting all the speeches at the service was Colligan's strong belief in equality. "Linda had this passion of fighting discrimination," said Potter, who met Colligan in fall 2003 when they both were preceptors for the politics department. "Linda was in charge. She was amazing."
Colligan maintained ties with the University by leading the PJP's Family Rights Project, a group that promotes equal marriage rights. She died by suicide last month, according to colleagues and family.
For the past two years, Colligan played a central role in writing the PJP's 70-page amicus brief in support of same-sex marriage. The group wrote the brief in response to a lower court's decision on Nov. 5, 2003, that the state constitution does not support gay marriage. The group plans to submit the brief in Colligan's memory to the New Jersey Supreme Court when the same-sex marriage case is tried this fall.
Beyond her dedication to writing the brief, Colligan also had a large impact on University students, some of whom sent her family condolence letters after her death.
"I really was touched by Linda; she was very inspirational to me," Hume said at the service.
Not only did Colligan's initial enthusiasm lead Hume to join the Family Rights Project at its inception in fall 2003, but Colligan's continued energy and organization kept the students focused as well.
"She really became the heart and soul of the project," Hume later said in an interview. Colligan directed monthly meetings with a list of cases for the students to research.
These leads inspired Hume's junior paper and senior thesis, in which she traced the history of interracial marriage cases in the United States to show how much of the rhetoric from these cases is now being used to make the case against same-sex marriage.
Hume heard about Colligan's death over spring break, when she was in Firestone doing thesis research. She described her initial shock and sadness that Colligan could take her life when so many people loved her.
"I just took a day and let myself remember Linda," Hume said at the service. She reflected on what Colligan was fighting for and gained new perspective on how her thesis fit into a larger struggle for equality.
Colligan's ability to connect with students was aided by her own dedication to academics. Colligan received a bachelor's degree in political science from Trinity College and a law degree from Rutgers. At the time of her death, she was finishing her Ph.D. in political theory at Rutgers.
"She was extremely intelligent and fiercely dedicated," Schonet said at the service, describing how Colligan forced him to analyze the many criticisms of natural law, the topic of her dissertation.
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