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FAMU Mourns Slain Student Editor

By Jessica N. Larche'
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Alexis Jenkins/the Famuan At the memorial service on FAMU's campus, Nefertiti Williams was called "Our Nubian Queen."

A junior public relations student from Bradenton, Fla., Williams served as the news editor for the FAMU student newspaper, and as a member of FACES Modeling Troupe, Inc., the FAMU Chapters of the Public Relations Student Society of America, the National Association of Black Journalists and Women Devoted to Change.

Leon County Sheriff's Department officials said Williams was the victim of an apparent murder-suicide. Maj. Mike Wood said Williams' friends found her body in her home on Thanksgiving. She was shot and killed by high school friend and roommate Shundavian Brooks, who later shot and killed himself, they said.

The staff of the Famuan, the student newspaper, placed a lighted candle and angel figurine at Williams' newsroom desk. Williams' deputy news editor, Nicole Bardo-Colon, said the staff wanted to keep Williams' memory alive.

"We're going to keep it burning as long as possible," Bardo-Colon said during the Nov. 28 ceremony. "And of course, she's an angel."

Bardo-Colon said Williams' intense drive inspired the staff.

"You couldn't help but feel driven around her," Bardo-Colon said. "She brought other people up with her."

The staff appreciated Williams' sense of humor.

"She was always making everybody laugh," Bardo-Colon said. "She made all of our lives better."

Sidney Wright IV, the Famuan's editor in chief, said he first noticed Williams after an article she wrote during the spring elections.

"As a journalist, she was amazing," Wright said. "She was an excellent writer. An excellent editor."

As news editor, Williams covered the controversial FAMU Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. hazing case, in which five men are accused of beating Marcus Jones during a series of fraternity initiation sessions, and student protests of the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson after roughing-up by guards at a juvenile boot camp. The incident prompted a shake-up in Florida's criminal justice system.

During the memorial service, Phillip Agnew, student body president, said Williams was respected on campus as a journalist.

"She was grace. She was beauty. But most of all she was a hard-nosed reporter," he said

Wright said the newspaper staff was striving to live up to her legacy.

"We owe it to her to keep going," he said. "I think that philosophy alone has given us strength to honor her by being the Famuan that we've always been."

Wright also said the staff appreciated Williams' outspoken personality.

"She was refreshingly genuine, honest, an overall great person, and that was enough to make you fall in love with her," Wright said.

Valerie White taught Williams in two classes and mentored her. White said she encouraged Williams to write for the Famuan in the spring. Williams' work on several investigative pieces helped her earn the fall news editor position in record time.

"She had become a real newswoman," White said. "She could handle high-caliber work and she was a high-caliber student. If you put her to the challenge, she would rise to the occasion."

White said students can learn from Williams' professionalism.

"Her work ethic was uncompromised," White said. The students "can be as committed to learning as Nef was."

White said Williams was applying for summer newspaper internships, but Williams eventually wanted to be an entertainment public relations professional.

On Nov. 21 at 10:50 p.m., about a day before her death, Williams wrote a note titled "Thankful for YOU" on her Facebook.com Web page.

It was believed to have been written to a friend:

"Lord knows I have had my share of problems in my life and it has been one of the roughest two years of my life, but through it all GOD above all, and YOU have made my life better in some way -- whether it was just a quick call to see how I was doing or being there for me in my time of need. I am forever grateful and thankful to have you in my life. I thank you and I hope that I am as important to you as you are to me. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!"

Williams' funeral service was scheduled for Dec. 2 at 1 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Sarasota, Fla.

Jessica N. Larche', a student at Florida A&M University, writes for the Famuan.

Posted Nov. 29, 2006