Dozens gather at Cal Poly to honor Kristin Smart after Paul Flores guilty verdict
Around 60 people gathered at Cal Poly to honor the memory of Kristin Smart, who disappeared from campus Memorial Day weekend 1996.
Some held signs that said “Believe survivors,” “Break the silence” and “Justice for Kristin Smart.”
The vigil came just three days after a jury convicted Paul Flores for her murder. His father, Ruben Flores, was acquitted by a separate jury of helping his son conceal the crime.
“Justice was served, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Therese Cron told The Tribune. “We need to bring Kristin home.”
Cron said she attended the vigil on behalf of the Smart family. She told The Tribune she met Denise Smart, Kristin Smart’s mother, while playing music in Shell Beach and the two bonded over music and became friends.
“(The vigil) means everything to them,” Cron said. “Where Cal Poly is right now in their quest to keep students safe is something that (Denise Smart) has been wanting and charging for for 26 years.”
Community members speak in support of Kristin Smart
The vigil was organized by Cal Poly Safer, a group that focuses on education and prevention of sexual and gender-based violence.
It began with a few speakers, then the mic opened for any community member to speak at the event.
“Cal Poly Safer, sadly, would not exist as it does today without Kristin. Our program was established 26 years ago because of her tragedy, because of her loss, by concerned faculty and students who saw a need in our community and who felt a deep sense of fear that a lot of people fear,” Kara Samaniego, assistant director of well-being for the group, told those in attendance.
“It is the worst-case scenario for why or how a program should exist on a college campus,” she said.
Samaniego said the resources Cal Poly has available now are “more vibrant than ever” to support survivors of sexual violence, and she encouraged those in attendance to help change Cal Poly’s campus for the better in the years to come.
“It’s all very sad,” said Gracie Babatoke, a third-year Cal Poly student who is president of Associated Students Inc. “While she was a daughter, a Mustang, a friend, it is important that we recognize that before all of those things, she was a human being.”
Babatoke added that all human beings deserve to feel safe on Cal Poly’s campus, and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect because of their humanity rather than just their relationships with others.
Atascadero resident Bill Jodry, who lost his son in 2019 after he fell off a downtown San Luis Obispo parking garage, encouraged students to look out for one another and take care of each other.
“You are the biggest asset to each other,” he said.
San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart said she got “goosebumps” when she heard the news of the guilty verdict, and hopes the verdict brought some closure to the family and community.
Nico Viñuela, a senior at Cal Poly, also spoke at the vigil. He attended the trial every day to report for Mustang News, Cal Poly’s student media outlet.
“There was a lot of humanity missing in that courtroom that affected me a lot, in a lot of ways that I don’t think I’ll ever comprehend,” Viñuela said. “It’s a beautiful thing to see everyone come together in a human way to honor her life in a way that I don’t think was present in the courtroom.”
“She was a regular student who made regular decisions, which we all make all the time,” he said. “And it’s my very unfortunate but very honest belief that what happened to her could still happen today. There’s no lesson to be learned from the actions that she took, but there is a lot of action to be taken from what happened to her.”
Vigil attendees then silently marched holding candles to Muir Hall, where Smart lived at the time she went missing.
A tree in front of the building was adorned with Smart’s photo, and people placed dozens of flowers and candles at a memorial at the base.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 9:19 PM.
