Pembroke College will donate to a fund set up for Harun Jama, who was murdered outside college owned accommodation this month.
Jama, 16, was found stabbed on 3 January near a children’s playground in Friars Wharf, Oxford, across from Pembroke’s Geoffrey Arthur building.
Pembroke JCR President, Carolina Earle, proposed a motion to donate £200 to the Harun Jama’s JustGiving page, set up by his friend Jamal Madar.
The JCR voted to donate some proceeds from a charity auction in Hillary term. The page aims to raise £2,000 for the Human Relief foundation to build two wells in Ghana in Harun’s memory.
The motion acknowledged that Jama was “a greatly loved member of his home community”, and that his murder “has deeply shocked the Pembroke community”.
During the meeting it transpired that the motion was unconstitutional, as the JCR can only give money to charity directly through the charity ballot later in term.
The motion was then amended to propose a donation of some of the revenue from this term’s Auction for Promises Charity event to Jama’s JustGiving fund.
It also proposed to “officially express the condolences of the Pembroke community to, and in commemoration of, Harun Jama”.
The motion passed unanimously.
Carolina told Cherwell: “The murder of Harun Jama was untimely and brutal. The nature and the proximity of the fatal attack being just metres from one of Pembroke’s main sites of accommodation has meant that Jama’s murder was one that has significantly affected the Pembroke community.
“We wish to extend our support to the grieving members of Harun’s family and friends, and we will be donating the proceeds of a Pembroke charity event to a fund created in Harun’s memory, by his friend Jamal Madar.”
Jamal Madar described Jama as a “teenager with the biggest, whitest smile”, who “had the best of characters towards his friends and especially elders”.
His JustGiving page, created in his friend’s memory, has raised over £850, achieving more than 40 per cent of its aim.
