Are students still grieving 9/11 or have they moved on?

Only 30 attend Muhlenberg College’s religious observance meant to honor the lives lost in the 9/11 attacks.

Thirty people stood in a circle holding candles below the ribbed vaults and pointed arches of Muhlenberg College’s Egner Memorial Chapel as Natalie Hand read the names and biographies of four alumni lost in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

“Craig Lilore matriculated with the class of 1994 and took great pride in fixing a house he bought with his wife soon after finishing college,” read Hand, the vice president of alumni affairs, in her tribute at the college’s religious observance to honor alumni lost on 9/11.

“A stock trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, he was on the 104th floor of the North Tower when the first plane hit. His son Joseph was only four months old,”

“A stock trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, he was on the 104th floor of the North Tower when the first plane hit. His son Joseph was only four months old,” read Hand, as many of those attending teared up.

Only 17 years ago, nearly three thousand lives were lost, and thousands more were injured in the September 11 attacks. The attacks shook the world and left a country in mourning. Today on campus, it’s a day many students will never forget. But with only 30 out of 2,400 students attending the college’s observance, it was evident that not all were remembering the day the same way.

One student felt the location was a big part of why he didn’t attend the event. “I don’t feel comfortable that the event is at a chapel,” said James Faimer, a senior at the college, who said he was an atheist. “I would have wanted an additional event to be held in an inclusive space like at Seegers,” said Faimer, referring to the college’s Seegers Union, Muhlenberg’s student center. He said he believed there were better ways of bringing people together.

Other students also felt there might be better methods to honor the lives lost. “It feels like it deserves more than one day,” said Seth Smith, a senior who attended the observance. Despite hearing the alumni bios of those who had passed, Smith still felt disconnected from the observance, as he had been only 4 years old when it occurred. He had difficulty mourning appropriately. He believed, “Conversation would be much more valuable than giving a moment of silence.”

“They don’t feel an affinity to this day,”

Dr. Timothy J. Silvestri said he was not surprised by student’s responses. The college’s director of counseling services and a licensed psychologist, Dr. Silvestri believed the observance had become more of a community event than a space to grieve. “They don’t feel an affinity to this day,” he said.

Dr. Silvestri said he believed people found more motivation to observe tragic events on the anniversary, but their significance fades away over time. This is especially the case for a generation that was too young to understand what had occurred in 2001.

Now, people continue to see it as a tragic event, but participation has become an expectation more out of guilt than grief, said Silvestri. “If you don’t participate in it, you seem cold or uncaring,” he said.

However, looking back in history, this wasn’t the first time such an event occurred on the college’s campus. December 7th also once held great significance at the college – it was the day Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. A year after the attack, the college held a short anniversary convocation in honor of the tragedy.

According to an archived copy of the Muhlenberg Weekly, the college’s student-run newspaper, “The college service flag will be raised while the band plays,” wrote the Weekly in 1941 in response to the attack. “The 11:30 class and chapel service will be canceled, and all other morning classes will be held one hour earlier to make possible this meeting.”

But 17 years later, there was no mention of Pearl Harbor in the archived student newspaper that year. The only event led on December 7 was an unrelated Lutheran student association meeting. A week after, the Weekly held headlines like "Students Hear Address by Anti-Red Counterspy," showing the college had become more concerned over “The Red Scare,” a term for the widespread fear of communism in the Soviet Union that occurred after World War II.

However, almost two decades after the Sept. 11 attacks, Muhlenberg staff members still say they believe it is necessary to remember the event.

Rev. Kristen Glass Perez was in charge of this year’s 9/11 observance and believes the space is essential for those who continue to grieve. Glass Perez was 23 and at work as a publishing editor in Minnesota when she watched the second tower get struck.

Now, as the college’s new chaplain, Glass Perez believes it's the staff's responsibility to hold an event. “There will never not be a time of observance... even if one or two are in attendance, they needed to come.”

Photo courtesy of Denise Gould / U.S. Air Force

#news #twintowers #memorial #NYC #MuhlenbergCollege