On April 30th, 2019, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte suffered its saddest day in history. A gunman opened fire on a classroom in the Kennedy building, and 2 students were fatally shot, and 4 were injured. The two killed were Riley Howell and Ellis Parlier.

One of the victims, Riley Howell, fought against the shooter, but was killed in the process. His sacrifice helped save lives, and gave police enough time to stop the shooter before it got any worse.

In honor of the tragic loss of Ellis Parlier and Riley Howell, I created this petition to ask the administration of UNCC and Chancellor Philip L. Dubois to rename the University Recreation Center after Howell and Parlier, so that it would be called the Howell-Parlier Recreation Center.

Since construction of the recreation center is set to be complete in Fall of 2019, it would be respectful to do so, so that they can be remembered for generations of students to come.