Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Brent quite, president Bentley University. Thank you so much for joining us in this 21st acknowledgement of 911 tragedy. We appreciate you coming together and joining us in this opportunity, the fellowship. There is really at this stage, perhaps not much new that I can add to the discourse. Debate about the precipitating actions and our collective response as a nation. Our appropriate it is, what it means at this most recent chapter is closing and Afghanistan. What is beyond debate is that this cataclysmic event, 2001 is now inextricably linked for our nation's recent heritage. And we'll manifestly in, directly be part of what defines us as we move forward in this new space. But what is beyond doubt? What is utterly indisputable is the extraordinary grief and loss that was felt that day. And what is beyond debate and dispute is our obligation to come together periodically, referentially, to celebrate and acknowledge and affirm our losses. And to celebrate the lives of members of our community who lost their lives and across the nation. And so whatever else we may be struggling with. On this anniversary, we don't struggle with the recognition that those who we lost are still with us in our hearts and in our minds. And it is for that. Nothing else. But I hope we can all find a bit of gratitude. And so it's a pleasure to be with you at this time. Thank you so much. President cried for your words and your presence here on our campus. My name is Reverend Robert Olson and I am the Director of our Spiritual Life Center. And I am honored to welcome you here in this gathering. And as I look around at us ice, I feel that we are surrounded by so many blessings. We're surrounded by friends and classmates, and teammates, and roommates and colleagues. And we are surrounded by y, what I like to call the beloved Bentley community. As we pause on this beautiful day, to remember a difficult day, Let's look around and see how beloved we are to one another. Take a deep breath. And with your days, say how much we appreciate each other. Thank you. We are surrounded on this day by a cloud of witnesses. There are those who have gone before us, whom we remember today, particularly for alumni whose lives ended all too soon from violent actions on this day 20 years ago. We remember first responders and there give thanks for their sacrifice and service. And some of us may remember others by name and our hearts from New York or DC or Pennsylvania. On that day, we are surrounded by those who died from violence, and we continue to say their names. David car loan, Amy toy in Terry Dasani, and Peter O'Neill. We're surrounded by memories. Some of us know exactly where we were and what we were doing and what happened on our days, September 11th, 2001. And we're here to share those stories with each other. But some of you have, we're babies on this day. And perhaps you grew up with your parents telling I remember where I was and you had just taken your first step and the stories from your childhood, some of our students, they were just a glint of hope in their parents I, 20 years ago. And we are surrounded by hope. We are surrounded by hope today. We are surrounded by hope that says that love endures far, longer and stronger than hatred. Were surrounded by hope. Knowing that working together, each giving our best, we can repair harm done in this world and we can be agents of social harmony. We're surrounded by story. Everybody has their story to share in a moment. You're going to hear from Dean Sheppard, center of the stories of our four alumni. You're going to hear stories of interfaith collaboration, life-saving collaboration on that day. You're going to hear the story from one of our current faculty members, Kiana Pierre Louis, about that encounter that she had with Amy toying. And how they put 5 thousand flyers all over this campus to declare. This is a place of welcome and inclusion. We're surrounded stories. We're surrounded by 1200 stories of affirmation. Behind you is our new installation put up this morning of 1200 messages of blessing of Best wishes, best intention. Actually we have a couple 100 more still to put up. Every single member of the Class of 2020 five has contributed to this community art and soul installation. Because as a coming of age crisis was 9, 11 for some of us here. The coming of age crisis for our students is this COVID pandemic. And U2 are contributing blanketing this campus in what is good and enduring and positive and your commitment to create the Bentley Beloved Community. And dare I say this day friends, that we are surrounded by the grace of God. The grace of God that breeze with us. Within us. The grace of God that breeze in the wind and moves are 1200 blessings in ways that are startling and quieting and powerful. We are surrounded this day by story. Thanks be to God. And I welcome Dean Andrew Shepherd sin to share story. Thank you, Robin. My name is intercept person and I was the Associate Dean of students on 911 2000 one here at Emory. Our first gathering of it when we were still a college then was that afternoon. Late morning, we had dispatched RAs to go door to door to try and identify students who may have been impacted, who are sitting, waiting for word from loved ones or family members. And we had decided that we needed to gather the community together, pull everyone together, and make sure that everyone was taken care of. As a community. We share the trauma, the hurt, the sadness, the anger, as well as the beginnings of some resiliency. And we helped to console each other, particularly those who were still waiting and waiting to be connected to New York as phone lines had been taken down as well. Those feelings were really intense. I felt them again a couple of nights later at a candlelight vigil at the reflecting pool at the Christian Science Center in Boston. And again 10 days later online. At September 21st, when I had kept an already arranged plan to go to New York City to visit friends. As I walked around a city and hung out with friends that I had known for many years. They were shell-shocked, but resilience. Smoke was continuing to Bill, to billow out from ground 0. And a smell every once in awhile is the wind would blow, would blow through and it's a smell I will never forget a metallic acidity. And walking around, you would see on every street corner in every subway stop and every building, thousands and thousands of flyers missing members of the community. You know that when they were put up, there was hope that they would be found. And now ten days later, the realization that those were now memorials, those feelings were intense. But for me, the most impactful of all of those experiences around 9, 11 was October 11th, Bentley held a memorial service on campus for four alumni. I hugged him, mother who lost her son. Realized that while intense, my feelings were nothing compared to the pain felt by the families left behind 911 while deeply felt, was still at arm's length and remains at arms like for many of us. But for far too many was an unimaginable loss. And as I talk to that mother, she shared some of the funniest stories I've ever heard about a child. And realize how resilience we are as human beings to both suffer and grieve, but laugh and smile at our memories that mom gave me a framed photo of her son receiving his Bentley diploma. It sits on my shelf. It is also visible in the 9 11 Memorial in New York City. And it reminds me of 9 11, the personal losses up that day. And also that everyday I need to do my best for all of our students because we just don't know what the future will hold. I'm honored and humbled to share remembrances of our four alumni. Three of whom were my students, and one who's niece was also my student. David car loan was 47, class of 970, seven, husband of Beverly and father to Derek, Nicholas and Matthew. His niece Kim nap was a student at Bentley at the time of David's death in 2001. She remembers that education was important to him. He said Bentley was a great school and I'd get a job right after graduation. Listen to everything he said. Devoted to his family, passionate about sports playing, watching, coaching his boys and baseball, basketball, soccer and football. He especially loved the New York Giants. He lived and worked in New York, in New Jersey, but was in the World Trade Center for a meeting that day. Terry guns Ani, Who was 24 in the class of 2 thousand. He was the only child of Martin and Tracy coenzyme a. He worked in the Trade Center. He was a native New Yorker, grew up in Brookline, a devoted Mets fan, known as a leader with a moral compass, who always did what he believed to be right. A friend remembers Terri as one who had the ability to light up a room as soon as he entered, he made a lasting impact on every personally met. No matter for how long. Till we had many friends, a big smile, love of adventure and travel and sports. Amy toy, it was 2004, a member of the Class of 999. She was engaged to fellow Falcon Jeffrey gone ski, who graduated two years before her. They plan to wed in 2002. She worked in Boston, was attending a meeting that day in the World Trade Center, described as friendly, artistic, and an advocate for tolerance and peace. She participate in the battling heartbeat campaign in response to moments of intolerance? It wasn't included in a commemorative been more mural, which you can see there. Amy was also active in Campus allow the commuter Association, the Marketing Association, and Delta Sigma Pi. Her fiance Jeffrey gone ski honor her legacy by creating a scholarship and Amy's name. The original funding came from the insurance payment for her engagement ring. Peter Neil, known as PJ. He was 22. He had graduated from Bentley in May of 2001 and he started working in the World Trade Center in July. Passion about his job, staying at his desk longer than others. When, how long after others went home? Passionate about serving as a firefighter in his hometown of Amazon, New York. Passionate life of the party who chaired the loudest for every one of his friends who cross the stage three months earlier at graduation. He's younger cousin page O'Neill was a member of the Class of 20185 years ago, his family and friends gathered in our sacred space for remembrance of what would have been PJs 15th alumni year. It was a large, fun, spirited, loving community living out the legacy of Piaget's life. Robert Jeff Faust, the Jewish chaplain and advisor to our hellos to a student group. The September 11th anniversary reminds us of the very best and the very worst of human behavior. Two stories. First from a Bentley alum whose mom farm and a Muslim students from Pakistan. He was in New York at the World Trade Center. And as the buildings came down, he was running down the steps to escape. He was almost all the way out, but he was exhausted and overwhelmed by the smoke. And he fell down. But then something wonderful happened. And he tell, told this here at Bentley. When it came back to tell the story, suddenly behind him I heard a voice saying, hang on, grab my hand. It was a Brooklyn Hasidic Jew in his pay as an end as traditional garb. But he has said, take my hand, we need to get out of here. Reaching across different traditions and communities to help each other. At the same time, we might also share that he was concerned first family in New Jersey. Because after 9 11, there was a terrible backlash, at least among some, some Americans who attack Muslims does because there were Muslim. So on the one hand you have a Hasidic Jew who reached out. On the other hand you have those were filled with hate. The second story is here at Bentley. I'm proud to say that our Jewish hello community reached out again. And because they were sphere, there weren't any, as far as I know, there weren't any untoward activities here at Bentley. But because of the fear, the Jewish students offered the standard solidarity and escort Muslim students if they felt a need. So again, we stood in solidarity and support. This is, this is how we need to respond to such tragedies and challenges. At the same time, we remember that there are those who go another way. Good afternoon, Kiana Pierre Louis, senior lecturer here at Bentley University, also class of 999. I was here with Amy Italian during the heartbeat campaign was a part of it. So I'm going to give you a little story about that. But before I do that, I just want to take a moment and say, I don't think any of us can say that we don't remember those feelings where we were what was going through our mind during 9, 11. And just sit with that for a second. We know even right now today, what we were feeling, what was going through our heads. It was a tragedy and it was sad. But I want to give you a story on a legacy of a brave woman who was an advocate and an activist at Bentley. And I often say when Robin asked if I would do this, I would say, I would say, I don't think we thought of ourselves as activists. We were 18, 19, 20, and this was our home. And we lived here and we weren't going to let anybody pushes out a Bentley. Haidt had no home here at Bentley and we took a stand. So the Bentley heartbeat campaign started. I was a coal president of BYU be Amy was active. She was part of hello, bunch of other people, Diversity Affairs Board. There was a bunch of people but flyers kept in taking down, they were just taken down or they were graffitied over it. And as chief and I were talking, it was this thing where the flies would go down. We put them back up, flyers, they'll go down. We brought them back up because we were going to say, who's going to get more tired? You're going to get tired of putting them down or we're gonna get tired of putting them up. They got tired. But we also wanted to make a stand. We didn't want to go quietly. And I never forget the day that I worked in the president's office. And I remember walking up to the special assistant on the president. Some of you may know him or Avery and our vice president Manetti and said, Would you be okay if we do a protest and remember them looking at me shaking their head, going, we will support you though. And they did. So some of us got together and said, What can we do to make noise, to let them know that you may have hate. But love will win this for 100 Bentley students. I mean, this is not during social media. I won't well, I just dated myself as a 99, but normal for social media before any of that, 400 students met the EDR and we got together a print 5 thousand flyers that said bigger to not welcome, heat has no home here. And most of this data fact, LGBTQ students and black students, beware affected some of us. It affected all of us. So everyone from all walks of life came together and said, We're going to fight this together. We sat at the library and said we're not going to go anywhere and it went away. I mean, there were some other incidents here, but they knew we were louder. And I just want to leave that it was called the Bentley heartbeat. And as you see, Amy was in that because we said you you were phenomenal. You came together, you bought all the organizations you were in and came and fought next to us and with us. But I want to say heartbeat, Bentley heartbeat. That's the students never taking anything away from faculty, staff. Anybody. Administration heartbeat of this university are the students. The students voices drove the administration to take a stand against this. Hey, the students were the ones that gathered in the executive dining room and La Cava and said, we're not going to stand. The students were the ones that sat library stairs and said, we're not going to stand for this. You are the heartbeat to my students, to my black united body who I still advise. I urge you on what we did really well in the nineties was we worked together just because we had organizations for our own identities. Did it mean that when one hurt, we all didn't hurt. Reach across those lines. This is one Bentley. Make your voices loud. Faculty and staff will always have your back, but you are the ones that make the change and continue to do that in Amy's legacy, make the change that she was about. And now we welcome the current president of Hillel and, and Amy try and scholarship recipients, Samantha Applebaum forward and the vice president of our B2B black united body, Deanna Strickland. And they're going to receive ceremonial gift of Amy twins legacy. I'm Father Ted Brown took Catholic chaplain here at Bentley, been asked to say a final prayer. But before we have the final prayer, I've been asked to let you know you're all invited to go upstairs, third floor of the Student Center, to the area near the sacred space. And you'll find a poster with a little bit of a biography about each one of our alum. And you'll see, see this mural. So we invite you upstairs whenever you can to go up and just spend some time taking in those lives and taking in how our students responded. And so however we pray, however we surround others would love. Let us enter into a time of prayer and meditation. God who hears the cries of the broken-hearted. Both our hearts and our history books tell us something terrible happened 20 years ago. Tomorrow. It was a bright blue, late summer day. Planes took off from Boston into that bright blue sky. We did not know our world would change as those planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. The Pentagon and Shanks fill Pennsylvania. Heart's still break because we remember the lives lost that day. But we have gathered here today trusting that you hear our voices, even as they quiver, which sadness? We trust that you have heard our prayers as we mourn the loss of those who have died, especially our alumni. The loss of a safer world, which are current students inherited. And we mourn for all the families that gathered today around our country who have had their lives shattered. God, you always bring something new about when things seem most broken. Let the memories of the state mold us into a people dedicated to the building of a new world, a world of equity, a world of justice, and a world of peace. Blessed IU, God who hears the cry of the broken hearted.
September 11th 20 Anniversary Commemoration - September 10, 2021
From Kaltura MediaUser September 10th, 2021
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