A speech by a mother whose daughter committed suicide following online bullying has been rescheduled for Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Floyd campus of Georgia Highlands College and Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Cartersville campus.

The presentations were originally scheduled for earlier this month but had been postponed.

Tina Meier will present “When a Friend Request Brings Death: The Story of Megan Meier” as part of the college’s fall speaker series. Meier will describe her daughter’s tragic suicide resulting from online bullying on MySpace, an online social networking site.

The Cartersville presentation takes place in Room 160 and it will be in the Lakeview auditorium on the Floyd campus. Lectures are free to students and the public.

In October 2006 Tina Meier found her 13-year-old daughter Megan hanging from her bedroom closet. Despite attempts to save her, Megan died the next day, just weeks away from her 14th birthday.

Megan had been involved in an online friendship with “Josh Evans,” who she thought was a teen boy. After an argument, messages and bulletins went to hundreds of kids saying, “Megan Meier is a slut.”

Six weeks after Megan’s suicide, Tina Meier learned that Josh Evans never existed.  In fact, the originators of the Evans account were Lori Drew, an adult neighbor who lived down the street from the Meiers, her 13-year-old daughter, a former friend of Megan’s and an 18-year-old employee of Drew’s. 

The tragedy drove Meier to found the Megan Meier Foundation to bring awareness and education about cyberbullying to students, parents and educators so that such behavior can be eliminated.

IF YOU GO

What: “When a Friend Request Brings Death: The Story of Megan Meier”

First date: Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. at Floyd campus of Georgia Highlands College

Second chance: Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at GHC’s Cartersville campus