President Shaver's Message on 911

TO:        MMC Faculty and Staff
FROM:   President Shaver
DATE:   September 2, 2011

MMC Remembers September 11, 2001
As the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 approaches, we pause to remember those who were injured or lost their lives in the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania.  Our thoughts go to their families and friends and to all those who rushed to their aid, sometimes at great personal risk.

Like you, no doubt, I remember the day vividly.  I had just moved to New York City and started my Presidency that July and we had just moved about five hundred students into our brand new residence hall on 55th.  It was an especially beautiful morning in New York City and the campus was filled with enthusiastic students, faculty and staff excited about the new academic year.  Many of you who were here that morning, or elsewhere in the area on 9/11, are still at the College and like me have your own indelible memories of 9/11 and its aftermath.  Among my sharpest memories is the extraordinary response of Marymount Manhattan students, faculty and staff who reached out to support each other in a period of profound uncertainty and sadness.
This month, Marymount Manhattan College will host a series of events to recognize the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  On Wednesday, September 7, and Friday, September 9, we will screen the film Beyond Belief, about two women working to make changes in Afghanistan. 

On Thursday, September 8, we will unveil a video that we asked one of our students, Cecelia Perez Homar, to create.  Ms. Perez Homar interviewed MMC faculty and staff who were here on 9/11, asking them to reflect on their experience.  
Sunday, September 11 is dedicated to a day of service.  Misty Beasley, our Director of Community Service and Service Learning, has organized our participation in two service events: a virtual bike ride to benefit Beyond the 11th, a fundraiser for Afghan widows, and delivering care packages to senior citizens through the local social service organization DOROT.
On Monday, September 12, the MMC Political Science Department, in association with the Division of Social Sciences and the Office of Academic Affairs, will host a presentation entitled on Rethinking 9/11: Terrorism, War, and the Politics of Identity by prize-winning journalist and author Gary Younge.

For more information on all these and other 9/11 anniversary events please go to http://www.mmm.edu/current/student/911.html
Virtually everyone has observed that Americans and even New Yorkers put aside petty disputes and differences and were united by shared grief and hope… for a time.  Our current political and civic discourse suggests that time is over.  I hope very much that as we reflect on this tragedy and honor its victims and heroes, we will renew our commitment as a community of higher learning to inclusion, inquiry and respectful discourse.  May we never need a tragedy to remind us that we are strengthened by our differences and united by our common humanity and the many qualities and aspirations that we share.
Best wishes,
Jud