By Sara Berry
As the Central Connecticut State University campus mourns the loss of psychology students Rich Royster and Brittany Mariani, the department in which they both spent their academic time studying took time to remember them on Monday.
Marianne Fallon and Marisa Mealy, both of the psychology department, worked closely with Royster and knew him well. Fallon was set to supervise Royster’s independent study on the effects of comedy on racial stereotypes. Both referred to him as a big, intimidating guy who was really a teddy bear, and more talented than he let on.
Mealy shared an anecdote from a class she taught Royster in. Last semester, after Thanksgiving break, she came to class sharing her weekend that included a fight with her boyfriend. Royster offered to “get together a posse and get [her] stuff back,” in exchange for extra credit points for anyone who participated.
While the football-playing Royster was well-known on campus, Mariani was much more quiet. While Fallon never met her in person, she was in one of her online classes and gained a lot of insight to Mariani’s personality through her written work. Fallon described her writing as very honest and insightful.
Jason Sikorski, also a psychology professor, described her as a happy, energetic and devoted student with a good sense of humor who was always smiling. Sikorski remembers Mariani as being interested in social work.
Psychology Department Chair Laura Bowman had both Royster and Mariani in her cognitive psychology class last semester. Bowman also described Mariani as being cheerful, interested and engaged in what she was learning. She always contributed in class discussions and according to Fallon, enjoyed communicating with other people.
Mealy and Fallon also shared their learning about the tragedy. Fallon learned about it through the campus announcement sent out Saturday afternoon by Mark McLaughlin, Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications at CCSU. She then called Mealy, who was in their shared office preparing for classes.
“The conversation was like ‘No way,’ ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘yes.’ “said Mealy. “When we got off the phone, I just started bawling.”
That sentiment of the two students who loved learning about other people was shared by the entire psychology department.