In Memoriam: Danielle Goldstein

By Dr. Tim Anderson

Less than two years ago I met with Danielle Goldstein as a prospective student. Danielle was finishing her undergraduate in English at Old Dominion and arrived with Meghan Morris, then a graduate student in our program. After Meghan introduced her, I asked Danielle why she wanted to gain a master's degree. Her reply was simple: "I'm interested in racial justice and the possibility of prison abolition." Students rarely voice such lofty ambitions. Most want a degree to gain a foothold for career advancement. While one's career is important, justice is mores so. I knew that unless Danielle's marks were poor, we would admit her immediately. Her grades were excellent. Admitting Danielle was one of the easiest decisions I have had in my tenure as the Director of the Institute.

Danielle Goldstein passed away early morning April 8th, 2021. It quickly became clear that this was simply a matter of fate. Friends and colleagues had been discussing with her how the next few weeks would be difficult, but papers and classes would be finished as the semester, as all semesters do, dragged to an end. In what has been a difficult and traumatizing year for so many of us, the fact that one of our most talented students could be lost to the whims of the universe was not simply another tragedy. Instead, it feels like an injustice. Much crueler souls remain while the Danielle Goldstein's of our lives depart.

What will not leave us anytime soon is our memory of Danielle. She was a lovely and engaged student with an infectious passion for social justice. As an undergrad, Danielle earned a bachelor's degree in English with summa cum laude distinction and worked with ODU's Humanities Behind Bars program to advocate for and educate prisoners. Danielle demonstrated a future as a scholar by publishing an article in ODU's undergraduate scholarly journal on the film, Get Out. As Danielle's graduate school professor and mentor, Dr. Allison Page, put it "Danielle was a brilliant, kind, and deeply caring student. Her passion for activism and social justice was evident not just in her academic and activist work but also in how she moved through the world. She will be profoundly missed."

While Danielle was at the beginning of a promising journey as both an intellectual and activist, it is clearer that Danielle was simply a good person. Attending a memorial for her on April 26th outside the Perry Library, friends of all stripes - from former prisoners, teachers, roommates, co-workers, and more - testified to her caring and talkative nature. As candles were lit and prayers lifted, it was clear that we at Old Dominion were only getting to know this exceptional and layered person, which makes Danielle's passing even more difficult to accept. As the Institute offers our deepest sympathies to her family and friends with the hope that they can find solace in this moment, we too mourn Danielle, a person whose life burned brightly and was extinguished without warning.