1. PRESS RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT
Kyley Scarlet
kyleyscarlet@gmail.com
Vice President Joe Biden Responds With Heartfelt Video to Invitation from UCSB
Student
(Isla Vista/University of California, Santa Barbara). June 11, 2014
On June 3, 2014 at 5:30 PM, Kyley Scarlet, a Senior Theater Major, former 2013-2014
Internal Vice President for the undergraduate student body, and former President of a
Sorority at UC-Santa Barbara, initiated a moveon.org petition. She requested that the
First Lady, Michelle Obama, visit the University of California Santa Barbara campus
before the end of the school year in the wake of the events of May 23rd. To date, 1,205
people have signed on to this petition. The petition stated: “your presence would inspire
and support our students (and the world) to believe that we are not defined by acts of
violence” such as those experienced by UCSB students.
Current UCSB students, Isla Vista residents, parents, friends and UCSB alumni signed
the petition. Individual messages expressed the hope that the First Lady or someone from
the White House, would reach out to the UCSB students in the wake of the horrific
events of May 23rd
. After seeing the support for the petition, Kyley continued to promote
the petition and personally wrote a letter to First Lady Michelle Obama. With the help
and support of Congresswoman Lois Capps and her daughter, Laura, who ensured the
letter would be seen by the White House, Kyley received a message from the White
House indicating that Vice President Joe Biden would respond to the letter by taping a
personal videotaped message.
Kyley Scarlet, who has made Isla Vista her home for the last four years, initiated the
request in light of the murders of George Chen, Katherine Cooper, James Hong,
Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, David Wang and Veronika Weiss. She feels that
it[the community of Isla Vista] has been traumatized. We are in disbelief and shock.
Although we may be “IV strong”, we are still healing. The love and support of everyone
is unbelievable. Within hours of the horrific rampage we came together, and created a
support system for one another. We became a stronger community. And for my part, I
have started a crowd-funding campaign designed to give individuals the power to make
an impact on the threat of local gun violence through a gun buyback program”. She
believes that the sorrow felt by the parents, siblings and personal friends of the six UCSB
students killed and those who are still recovering from their wounds is immeasurable. In
some small way, knowing that the horrific events of 5/23 will spur change may help the
mourning process.
Vice President Joe Biden’s video can be viewed at: https://vimeo.com/97881903
It is 4:49 minutes long and it delivers a heartfelt message to the student body of UCSB.
In particular, he sends a personal message to this year’s graduating seniors. The video is

2. available on the UCSB homepage and all members of the UCSB, Isla Vista and
surrounding Santa Barbara community will gain from its message.