Growing up in the Long Island suburbs, 9/11 has been a day of collective mourning and sorrow for as long as I can remember. With many families, friends, and friends of friends being impacted by the attacks, thoughts of the tragedy overwhelm us all. It was largely recognized during school on each anniversary, with many teachers drawing on their own experiences from the day.
That being said, when 9/11 came around shortly after my freshman year at Holy Cross began, I was quite disheartened by the lack of recognition the day received on campus. I recall many of my friends from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and other areas being surprised when the day was met with little formal recognition from Holy Cross itself. None of our professors mentioned it, and the only email we received about it came from the Chaplain’s Office. They displayed the names of Holy Cross graduates who died from the 9/11 attacks in a memorial in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel and remembered them at daily Mass. I attended mass that day, but I was still left a bit uneasy by receiving only one brief email. “Isn’t there more that Holy Cross can be doing?” I thought to myself.
The next year, the response was about the same. Pax Christi advertised a guided reflection of the 18th anniversary and reminded students of confidential resources for healing through the College, but the Holy Cross administration itself still failed to reach out.
This year, Holy Cross didn’t send a single email. They posted on Instagram and Facebook, but that was the extent to which the College recognized the day. Even if most students aren’t on campus, that doesn’t change what happened and the fact that it needs to be acknowledged. Memorial Plaza certainly serves as a reminder on its own, with the names of the seven Holy Cross alumni––Edward A. Brennan III ‘86, Thomas D. Burke ‘85, Neilie A. Heffernan Casey ‘90, John G. Farrell ‘91, Todd A. Isaac ‘94, Beth A. Quigley ‘97, and John J. Ryan ‘78––who were lost etched on a stone marker, but more attention must be brought to the events and those we lost.
Perhaps New England feels detached from New York, but isn’t Holy Cross a community which knows no geographical bounds? Especially now that Holy Cross has only allowed a limited number of students on campus this semester, the administration has emphasized how our sense of community will be strengthened. This has not been the case, as seen through their neglect to continue past minimalistic traditions. When did it stop being worth mentioning?
Seven Holy Cross alumni were lost, but imagine the family members and friends of those from the Holy Cross community. How are we recognizing them? What about those who were in the Towers and managed to make it out? Are we going to recognize their struggle? In 2012, over 5,000 Holy Cross alumni lived in New York City. I doubt the numbers were much lower in 2001, but let’s say even 2,500 (half the number from 2012––unlikely) lived there on September 11, 2001. That’s still a very significant number. That isn’t even accounting for all of those who must have commuted into the city from surrounding areas. What does this neglect say about how we are defining community?
I am not merely criticizing the neglect of the Holy Cross administration, though. I think that we as Holy Cross students must do more on our own as well. Pax Christi had the right idea in 2019. However, how can we reach the larger student body? One way would be to get involved in Young America’s Foundation’s 9/11: Never Forget Project. Over 200 high schools and colleges across the nation participate by placing 2,977 American flags into the ground. According to its website, the Project was started “to help students create meaningful memorials to the innocent victims of radical Islamic terrorism, and to inspire commitment to defending our freedoms whenever they are attacked.” Why haven’t we done the same on the Hoval? There is more that we can do to make Holy Cross more cognizant of the events that impacted many from our own community. With most from the class of 2024 not being alive when the attacks occurred, it is imperative that we help them participate in our collective mourning with a fervent reverence for all those who were impacted that day.
I’ll end with this. If Popcorn Tuesday and a STAR outage at 6:00 AM have always warranted emails of their own, why doesn’t the largest act of terrorism to hit our country to date? Holy Cross: do more. Our administration, faculty, and students can all do more. Next time you walk through Memorial Plaza, remember Edward A. Brennan III ‘86, Thomas D. Burke ‘85, Neilie A. Heffernan Casey ‘90, John G. Farrell ‘91, Todd A. Isaac ‘94, Beth A. Quigley ‘97, John J. Ryan ‘78, and the other 2,970 lives that were lost on 9/11.