Last Friday, Syracuse University honored the 35 students studying abroad, including junior Kenneth Bissett ’90, who perished in the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988, with a Rose-Laying Ceremony.
Bissett, 21, a junior at the time was returning from studying abroad in London when the plane crashed killing 270 people.
“This is the first year they invited Cornell to the ceremony,” said Sarah Boxer ’07, vice president for finance of the Student Assembly, who attended the Rose-Laying Ceremony with CJ Slicklen ’09, S.A. vice president for public relations.
“Hopefully it’s something we’ll continue,” Boxer said. At the ceremony at 2:03 p.m. — when the tragedy occurred — she and Slicklen placed a bouquet of white and red roses at the Wall of Remembrance.
Syracuse University awards 35 remembrance scholarships of $5,000 each, in honor of the students in Pan Am Flight 103. The university holds a remembrance week each year culminating with a ceremony led by the scholars each year in honor of the 35 students in the crash.
“Now we have connections with Cornell … so Cornell can also remember Kenneth,” said Erin McLaughlin, a senior at Syracuse, who was in charge of the ceremony. “[Cornell] is welcome to come to our event.”
— Written by Vanessa Hoffman