Many Cornellians could breath sighs of relief yesterday as late-night reports suggested that no current University students were injured in yesterday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
“We have not heard word that any students were injured in the disaster,” said Henrik N. Dullea ’61, vice president for University relations.
“Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing that everyone from Cornell is safe,” he added. “There’s simply not enough information yet.”
All of the students studying in the Cornell-in-Washington program were safely accounted for yesterday morning, Dullea said, and no students this year had been interning this semester at the Pentagon.
No one was injured from the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College or from Cooperative Extensive offices — all of which were located well above the disaster area.
But dozens of burn patients were filing into the New York-Cornell Hospital and the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, both of which are affiliated with the medical school.
“The medical school is fully engaged [in the rescue operations] and both hospitals are providing relief support for the victims of the incident,” Dullea said.
Back in Ithaca, campus safety was not threatened and Captain Curt Ostrander of the Cornell University Police Department denied any increased police presence on campus.
Still, administrators advised students to exercise reasonable caution and to support each other through the crisis.
“We are focusing on the campus community,” said Susan H. Murphy ’73, vice president for student and academic services. “We’ve put counselors and support staff in residence halls and community centers on campus to help students, faculty and staff whose families may be affected by this disaster.”
Echoing the sentiments Rawlings expressed in his address to Cornellians, Linda Grace-Kobas, director of Cornell news services, said people should be sensitive to each other as more information is revealed about yesterday’s horrors.
“We don’t know the end of this yet,” she said. “The best thing we can do is stick together. We have to make our decisions as the information comes.”
–Senior Editor Yoni Levine contributed to this report.
Archived article by Jennifer Roberts