Sallyport - The Magazine of Rice University - Winter 2002

Campus Reacts to National Tragedy
Winter 2002
VOL.58, NO.2
Campus Reacts to National Tragedy
On September 14, the day
President Bush declared a
National Day of Prayer
and Remembrance,
students, faculty, and staff
alike came from all over
campus to gather quietly
in front of Fondren
Library. They were there
to join Americans across
the country in
memorializing the victims of the terrorist attacks against the United States
just four short days earlier and to comfort and support one another.
Also See:
September 11 - Out of
the Maelstrom
President Malcolm Gillis; Bill Martin, the Harry and Hazel Chavanne
Professor of Religion and Public Policy; and leaders of the Student
Association and Graduate Student Association spoke at the event. “Those
lost we can no longer help,” Gillis said. “But we can hope that by conveying
—silently and aloud—our innermost thoughts of condolence and support,
that their friends and families may draw solace from our humble gathering.”
Martin talked about the many emotions caused by the terrorist attack. He
pointed out that many people probably wondered how the tragedy might
alter everyday life. “That you probably had some of these thoughts does not
mean you are a bad or a terribly shallow person,” Martin said. “It means
that you are human with some self-regarding tendencies, an almost
ineradicable characteristic of humans. That it may have bothered you to
have such thoughts is also human. Take comfort in the fact that many
people also acted altruistically, even heroically, and that you would have
too had you been there.”
Student Association
president Gavin Parks said
that on the day of the
attack he and co-president
Jamie Lisagor visited
college commons, where
students were gathered
around watching the
television in disbelief. “I
also saw students,
associates, RAs, and
masters coming together and comforting each other in this time that needs
much reflection and thought,” Parks said. “This is a part of the healing
process. This is part of the magic of Rice. This is part of why we are a
community.”
Lisagor called on Rice to “create another series of images, just as powerful
and just as memorable as those seen on television: images of a community
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