Syracuse University announces 2009 Remembrance Week activities

Tuesday, November 3, 2009, By Kelly Homan Rodoski

Syracuse University’s 2009-10 Remembrance Scholars have planned a series of activities for the University’s annual Remembrance Week, Nov. 8-14.

The terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, took 270 lives, including those of 35 SU students returning from a semester of study abroad. Each year, the Remembrance Scholars plan a wide range of activities aimed at educating the University community—and the community at large—about the legacy of Pan Am Flight 103 and the lessons learned from the tragedy.

“During Remembrance Week, the Remembrance Scholars are given the opportunity to reach out to the Syracuse University and greater Syracuse communities and tell the stories of the victims who were so tragically lost on Pan Am Flight 103,” says Remembrance Scholar Regina Maturo. “It is a time to honor and remember the lives of the 270 victims, including the 35 Syracuse University students, who were taken too soon. Also, we are able to educate students, professors and peers about the events that led to the terrorist bombing over Lockerbie in December 1988 in hopes of making people more aware of what they can do as individuals to ensure these acts are prevented in the future.”

In advance of Remembrance Week, scholars have been making classroom presentations both on campus and in local high schools about Remembrance Week and why the Pan Am 103 tragedy is marked each year.

Remembrance Week Activities include:

  • Thursday, Nov. 5—Scholars will build a cairn, a traditional Scottish marker of remembrance, on the Quad from 3-5 p.m. The cairn will remain on the Quad throughout Remembrance Week.
  • Nov. 6 through Dec. 21—“A Special Moment in Time: 1988 Fall Semester in London,” an exhibition about the study abroad experience in London during the Fall 1988 semester. The SU Archives created this exhibition to focus on the joy and camaraderie of the time the SU students spent with their fellow students in London that year. The exhibition will be displayed in the Noble Room, Hendricks Chapel. More information is available at http://archives.syr.edu/panam/2009exhibit.html.
  • Sunday, Nov. 8— The 3.5 for 35 Memorial Run will begin at 11 a.m., with registration from 10-10:45 a.m. in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center. Each one-tenth mile of the race course will be dedicated to one of the 35 SU student victims. Registration is $5, and proceeds from the race will be used to restore the posters of the 35 SU student victims of Pan Am 103 that are displayed on campus every fall. Pre-registration is available online at http://remembrance.syr.edu.
  • Monday, Nov. 9-Wednesday, Nov. 11—Scholars will provide information on Remembrance Week during table sittings in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center, Martin J. Whitman School of Management building and the Newhouse 3 building (outside Food.com). Carnations will be distributed on the Quad on Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
  • Monday, Nov. 9—A “Why We Remember: Pan Am 103 Symposium” will be held from 7-8 p.m. in Room 010 of Crouse-Hinds Hall. Panelists will include Lawrence Mason, professor of visual and interactive communication in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and co-author of “Looking for Lockerbie” (Syracuse University Press, 2008); 2009-10 Lockerbie Scholar Alistair Inglis; Melissa Chessher, associate professor and chair of the magazine department in the Newhouse School and co-author of “Looking for Lockerbie”; Matt Mulcahy, anchor and reporter with WSTM TV-3; and Joan Deppa, associate professor of newspaper and visual and interactive communications and author of “The Media and Disasters: Pan Am 103” (NYU Press, 1994).
  • Wednesday, Nov. 11—“Their Words and Ours: A Night of Remembrance.” A celebration of the victims’ lives through stories, performances and shared memories will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel. Groups performing will include Orange Appeal, the Black Celestial Choral Ensemble and Groovestand.
  • Friday, Nov. 13—Rose-Laying Ceremony, Moment of Silence and Remembrance Scholars Convocation. The annual Rose-Laying Ceremony will be held at 2:03 p.m. (the actual time of the tragedy) at the Wall of Remembrance, located in front of the Hall of Languages, and will include a campus-wide moment of silence. A convocation honoring the 2009-10 Remembrance Scholars and Lockerbie Scholars will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel. A reception will follow in the lobby of the Heroy Geology Laboratory.

For more information on Remembrance Week activities, visit http://remembrance.syr.edu.