The unprecedented and tragic events of September 11 challenge us as never before as both a nation and a university community. This is an extraordinary time in our history. It is also a time, however, of great grief and uncertainty, and we are left to wonder whether life will ever be the same again. It is understandable if you have feelings of anxiety, depression, or fear in the wake of the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the deaths of passengers on the hijacked airliner in Pennsylvania who valiantly fought the hijackers. As the toll of victims rises daily to now more than 6,400 Americans and people from 80 countries, the loss and devastation often seems overwhelming.
This also is a time when hope seems to be hiding from us. However, I have witnessed the endurance of hope in many forms on our campus in the days since September 11. Many of you waited in line for up to nine hours to give blood that awful day during our emergency extension of our Red Cross blood drive; you packed the Chapel and Cultural Center that evening for an interfaith prayer service. On September 14, the National Day of Remembrance, you came by the hundreds to our campus event in the Armory.
You also have initiated myriad fund-raising activities to support rescue and recovery efforts. Rensselaer’s Turkish students, for example, many of whom belong to the campus Islamic community, recalled how Americans had come to the aid of their nation during the devastating 1999 earthquake, and they organized a campus bake sale to raise money for the American Red Cross. The Institute also has contributed $50,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and established an account at our campus HSBC branch in the Rensselaer Union for additional donations.
I was especially impressed that your Student Senate acted quickly on September 11 to pass a resolution that reaffirms our solidarity as one community that will not be torn apart by these events. The words of the resolution, rejecting intolerance and promoting compassion, eloquently stated that as a community, "We stand committed to represent and uphold the best in human behavior—empathy, dignity, and mutual respect." We are privileged to belong to a community that includes students, faculty, and staff from across the country and from around the world and which represents a host of religious, ethnic, racial, and national backgrounds. We can take pride as a community that our student leaders recognized immediately that our diversity is our strength. Let us take to heart the Student Senate resolution.
I agree with President Bush that our country is strong and will not be overcome by this crisis. In his September 20 speech to the joint session of Congress, President Bush said, "We have seen the state of our Union in the endurance of rescuers, working past exhaustion. We have seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers—in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. We have seen the decency of a loving and giving people, who have made the grief of strangers their own."
That same spirit of unity and compassion pervades this campus. Take strength from each other in the coming days and continue the fine work you have been doing to bring relief and hope to the families and friends of the victims of this tragedy.
