A year ago from this Wed., a shocked Cornell community gathered at a vigil on the Arts Quad following the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans. To commemorate the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, members of the community will have the chance to reconvene during a week of discussions and remembrances.
An outdoor, nondenominational memorial convocation at the A.D. White House gardens on Sept. 11 will serve as the principle commemoration of last year’s tragedy.
“A year ago the Cornell community came together to grieve and to begin the process of recovering from this national tragedy,” said Susan H. Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, in a Cornell news release. “Now, a year later … it is also a time for us to come together to remember those who were lost and to renew our commitment to our own humanity.”
President Hunter R. Rawlings III, Kenneth W. Clarke, director of Cornell United Religious Work, and members of the Cornell Glee Club and Chorus, all of whom participated in the vigil held on the Arts Quad after the events of last Sept. 11, will participate in the event.
It is not the University’s intention to replicate last year’s vigil, according to Henrik N. Dullea ’61, vice president for University relations.
“The comments of the participants will look forward rather than backward,” he said.
To commemorate the four airplanes that crashed and the time that each World Trade Center tower fell, the Cornell Chimes will toll six times on the morning of Sept. 11. Additionally, an interfaith vigil will take place in Sage Chapel at 7 pm.
Many of this week’s events will “bring the campus community together to talk about issues raised as a result of Sept. 11,” Dullea said.
Five panel discussions will allow members of the Cornell community to discuss how Sept. 11 has affected politics, science and culture. A panel discussion, comprised of faculty members from a wide array of disciplines, will occur every day this week in Call Alumni Auditorium in Kennedy Hall from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“Our hope is to engage a wide spectrum of the campus community in thoughtful discussion of the impact of the attacks, not only on the international political scene but also on American culture and society,” Murphy said.
Although all of the panel members are faculty members, “there will be time for dialogue with the audience [during the discussions],” Dullea said.
According to Dullea, Cornell has received praise from other universities for its schedule of events to commemorate Sept. 11.
“We have been asked by other schools for copies of the program,” he said. “There have been nice reactions to what Cornell is doing.”
Archived article by Stephanie Hankin