Brown University to Launch Campaign for Sunil Tripathi

By Gilbert Falso :: 10:42 PM

Brown University will launch a campaign tomorrow to help find missing student Sunil Tripathi.

The campaign, entitled “Lend a Hand,” was intended to inspire a way to find Tripathi, or to encourage his return to the Providence, Rhode Island Campus.

Tripathi, 22, has been missing from the campus since the middle of March. Originally from Radnor, Pennsylvania, Tripathi is the son of an Indian father and an American mother.

Last week, he was falsely identified on social media and sites like Reddit as one of the Boston Marathon bombers. His name was eventually cleared in connection with the attacks, but not before Internet vigilantes and real law enforcement officials alike descended on his family and friends.

Tripathi disappeared from his apartment in Providence on March 16, and left both his wallet and his cellphone behind. No one has heard from him since his disappearance.

The family posted the following message to a Facebook page set up to help locate the missing student:

A tremendous and painful amount of attention has been cast on our beloved Sunil Tripathi in the past twelve hours. We have known unequivocally all along that neither individual suspected as responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings was Sunil. We are grateful to all of you who have followed us on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit—supporting us over the recent hours. Now more than ever our greatest strength comes from your enduring support. We thank all of you who have reached out to our family and ask that you continue to raise awareness and to help us find our gentle, loving, and thoughtful Sunil.

Beginning tomorrow on the Brown campus, members of the university’s community will be asked to “Lend your Hand” on the College Green. The university is inviting all attendees to write messages for Tripathi on their hands. Photos of the messages will be taken, posted to Facebook, and shared via multiple social media outlets to support the search for Tripathi and inspire his return.