This week, the University of Texas at Austin revealed its memorial for the victims of the Tower shooting – a single piece of granite that features the names of the 16 victims of the mass shooting along with the Latin inscription "Interfectum."
Well, as the Statesman's Ralph K. Haurwitz pointed out, that inscription isn't exactly the most appropriate verbiage for the memorial. But why?
We asked Karl Galinsky, a Latin expert and longtime UT Austin professor of the classics – who, incidentally, first arrived on campus just weeks after the shooting in 1966 – three simple questions about the dustup.
How'd this happen?
Does this mistake translate into English?
Why is "interfectum" the improper form?
As for the inscription, UT's Erica Saenz told the Statesman that the memorial could be sandblasted and re-inscribed "if necessary," though, it's unclear if that will ultimately be the case for the monument.
In an email, J.B. Bird, UT's director of media outreach, told KUT the university is "working to resolve this quickly so the focus returns where it belongs, to honoring the survivors, victims and their families."
This post has been updated.
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