Update: Wednesday, March 13, 1:50 p.m.

A memorial celebration will be held for Christien Rodriguez this Friday, March 15 from 1:30 – 5 p.m. in Doheny Beach AB in the UCI Student Center.

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The UC Irvine community mourns the passing of a former student and activist.

The Orange County Coroner confirmed that the passing of former UC Irvine student, Christien Rodriguez, took place around 5 p.m. on Friday, March 8.

The UCI LGBT Resource Center released an email on Monday to various student groups on campus, honoring Rodriguez and his accomplishments.

“Christien was a co-founder of T-Time, the support group for transgender, gender queer and gender questioning students. He was a member of the Transgender Task force on the campus and for many of people one of the first visible and openly transgender person many staff, faculty and students had ever met,” Davidian Bishop, Director of the LGBT Resource Center, said in the message.

“He was a long-time speaker for the Center’s Speakers Bureau and has presented for several years across the campus. For those of us that were fortunate enough to know him, we will remember his incredibly sharp mind, his awareness, advocacy and devotion to social justice issues and how he crafted words and language to help people understand marginalized, under-represented and under-served populations. He was a leader in the housing community at AV. He was heavily involved in Irvine Queers and touched many of the other queer organizations in a variety of ways.

“Everyone who knew Christien will feel the impact of his passing in different ways. The feelings can vary greatly from day to day. Please trust and allow yourself and others to process this loss in our own unique and varied ways. There is no single correct/appropriate way to feel.

“This is a heartbreaking time for the Queer community and the larger community at UCI. We lost a brother. Please do what you can to support each other and to ask for the support you may need.”

For students who would like to seek solace and support from this incident, there are a number of resources available. The UCI Counseling Center can be reached by calling (949) 824-6457 or visiting www.counseling.uci.edu.

Other resources for students in need include contacting “The Trevor Project” Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386, calling the police at 911 or by visiting the UCI LGBT Resource Center, which is located at G301 in the Student Center and is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As UCI students and journalists, the New University extends our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.