On a morning when the weather was reminiscent of that fateful day seven years ago, the Binghamton University community came together to honor those lost in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
More than 70 people gathered outside the Couper Administration Building yesterday for an early ceremony which began with the chiming of bells at 8:46 a.m., the moment the first plane struck the World Trade Center.
Three Binghamton New York State University Police officers conducted the flag ceremony, in which they set the flag at half mast. Afterward, University President Lois B. DeFleur spoke to the group.
“It was another beautiful, clear September day like this morning seven years ago that all of us were shocked and incredulous at the attacks on our country,” DeFleur said.
She emphasized the importance of the campus community coming together on a day that “changed history,” and then paused for a moment of silence.
The audience remained quiet as Tony Villecco, an Africana studies faculty member, sang “America the Beautiful.”
DeFleur then spoke to the crowd about the Memorial Courtyard in the Fine Arts Building, and the stone memorial created by alumni for those members of the BU family who were lost in the attacks.
“I urge all of those in our University community to take advantage of this island of solitude in the midst of our busy, busy days,” she added.
Throughout the day students were presented with many options to perform a good deed.
Hillel’s “Mitzvah Marathon,” an annual event the organization holds on Sept. 11, allowed participants to perform a mitzvah, or a good deed.
“It’s a nice way to do something uplifting that commemorates 9/11,” Sam Hirsch, president of Hillel, said.
Along with Hillel, members of Chabad, the Jewish Heritage Program, and Alpha Sigma Phi volunteered for the day, giving students the opportunity to buy a canned good and donate it to charity, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the Salvation Army and fill out cards for Rosh Hashana to be mailed to those in hospitals, along with other good deeds.
Another chance for a mitzvah was at the campus blood drive in the Susquehanna Room, which had over a 45-minute wait for walk-ins at some points during the day.
Last night the College Republicans wrapped up the day with a reading of names — the nearly 3,000 who died in the attacks that day — in front of the flag garden they’d set up along the main walkway by the Glenn G. Bartle Library Tower.
The garden, which was made possible through donations from the Binghamton chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, was made up of 6-by-10-inch flags, enough to represent each New York City police officer, firefighter or Port Authority police officer killed that day.
“I think it’s important on the BU campus that we recognize those who’ve passed,” Paul Liggieri, one of the vice chairmen of College Republicans, said. “It’s the least we can do to honor those who gave their lives for this country.”
The reading took nearly four hours, Liggieri said, and the night was split between at least five readers, in addition to any individuals who decided to show up.
Liggeri said that while the group had been hoping for a larger crowd, they were happy with those who did attend.
“The purpose of tonight is to honor those fallen in 9/11,” said John Jensen, the group’s president. “This is something most Americans won’t forget; however, some will, and that’s why we’re doing this.”