Shaken and traumatized one year ago, the United States fell victim to evil acts of terrorism. At the heart of New York’s financial district, the World Trade Center ultimately fell to the ground after two airline jets flew into the twin towers, where over 3,000 civilians, health care providers, firemen, and policemen lost their lives. Attacks on The Pentagon and in Somerset, Pennsylvania left Americans afraid for their lives and of future attacks.
Despite the anger and fear, broken spirits quickly transformed into patriotic codes of conduct. Stars and stripes adorned car windows. American flags fluttered in the sky from street corner to street corner. Athletic teams sported American flag patches on their uniforms. The outpour of patriotic emotion spread nationwide. A new way of life emerged, and Americans were changing for the good.
One year later, the nation has not forgotten the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001, and the Fairfield community has bonded together to recognize the victims. Within the university, 14 alumni and the father of a current student were lost.
“Unlike Americans in other parts of the nation, many at Fairfield University know individuals who died on Sept. 11 and the families that now grieve for them,” University President Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J. said. “It is with this in mind that the university will create memorials on campus in memory of the parent who died and our 14 lost alumni.”
After careful consideration, Kelley appointed a committee last year, comprised of faculty, students, and alumni, to organize plans for a memorial on campus. Upon Kelley’s approval, the committee proceeded to the city of New York with a plan in mind.
“We wanted the memorial to be small and tasteful,” said Fredric C. Wheeler, associate vice president for development and chairman of memorial committee. “The memorial needed to be a cross representation of the horrors of Sept. 11 and an important record of how Fairfield University and this event intersected.”
The city of New York provided a three-foot section of one of the towers to Fairfield University. O’G Industries, Inc., of Bridgeport, will donate the materials and labor needed to construct the memorial.
“The city was particular to whom it granted pieces,” Wheeler said. “The pieces are to be used for non-profit or educational purposes only. O ‘ G Industries have also been helpful to Fairfield and are gratified by what the university plans to do.”
The permanent campus memorial will be unveiled on Nov. 2, during Homecoming Weekend.
“It is our hope that the campus memorials will perpetuate the memory of those of our community who lost their lives so tragically on Sept. 11,” Father Kelley said. “At the same time, it must be a place where memories of the past are treasured and cherished.”
Fairfield restricted $1 million of its own institutional endowment to establish The September 11 Memorial Scholarship Fund in honor of the 14 alumni and other families who lost loved ones.
This endowed scholarship fund will directly benefit qualified students who lost a parent, the sons and daughters of deceased alumni and/or children of rescue workers from the New York Police Department, the Fire Department of New York, and the New York City Emergency Medical Services who were lost in the Sept. 11 disaster, should they become Fairfield University students.
“To this date no one has applied or qualified for the scholarship. Most of the alumni were very young or have very young children,” Wheeler said. “However, we have received approximately $30,000 of unsolicited donations since the fund originated.”
“We do this partly to let their families, friends and classmates know that
the university community cares,” Kelley said. “We do it also so that future students will always be aware of the tragedy that this nation suffered on Sept. 11, and its very real impact on Fairfield University.”
In efforts to raise funds for families of emergency relief personnel killed or permanently disabled in the attacks, the United States Postal Service created the “Heroes of 2001” postal stamp, which was dedicated at the Quick Center on Monday.
A Community Commemoration of Sept. 11 took place on at the Oak Room plaza yesterday. Students, faculty and staff presented readings and reflections about Sept. 11.
A candlelight Mass of Remembrance for all victims was held on the plaza outside the Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola last night.
Dedication of a memorial plaque for Patrick Hoey, father of Sharon Hoey ’04, will take place on Oct. 26, during Parents’ Weekend.
“The memorial plaque for Sharon’s father will be located in the Barone Campus Center,” Wheeler said. “The Campus Center is central to all student life and is an appropriate place for the plaque to be viewed.”
In recognition of the tragedies, other Jesuit universities such as Boston College and Fordham University offered memorial masses and interfaith services of remembrance.
Boston College built a “Wall of Remembrance” to honor the 21 alumni and three parents it lost to the tragedies. Fordham University, located in the Bronx, New York, built two six-ton granite monuments listing the names of over 100 members of the Fordham family lost in the tragedies.
“We do not know what will happen tomorrow, so we should not be living our lives in constant fear,” said Kim Gaines ’03. “Events like what happened only make you realize how important family and friends are, and you do not want to fathom what it would be like for them not to be there tomorrow.”
Laura Beauregard, ’03, who was abroad in France all last year, remembered when she could not get in touch with her family for a whole week after the disaster, due to international communication failures. “Studying in France, I was scared to identify myself as an American. Some people were unsympathetic towards me, while others were extremely supportive. As much as I missed my family, I felt safer in France for the time being.”
“Like all Americans, the Fairfield University community now lives with a heightened fear of future terrorist attacks, anger at the crime which was committed against us, and a desire to root out the evil which has harmed so many, not only in this country but around the world,” Kelley said.
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