To the University Community:

It is with tremendous sadness that I write to inform you of the confirmed death of second-year U.Va. student Hannah Graham, who had been missing since early on the morning of September 13.

Hannah showed great promise as a student and as a young woman. She brought immense energy and delight to her learning at the University, and she was a source of friendship and joy for so many people here at the University and abroad, particularly her friends on the ski team. Thomas Jefferson wanted students here to fulfill “destinies of high promise.” For Hannah’s young life to end so tragically, and for her destiny of promise to be left unfulfilled, is an affront to the sanctity of life and to the natural order of human events.

This is a sorrowful day in the life of the University, and our entire community is grieving with the Graham family. We offer our sincere condolences for their loss, and we will continue to hold them in our thoughts and prayers in the days ahead.

Teresa A. Sullivan
President