Did you Know? Issue 1
Kae Kirkwood- Archival Librarian 2001- Basketball Players at Ground Zero
Tuesday, September 11, 2001, was a gorgeous, sunny, bright blue day in Western Pennsylvania. Most current Geneva students were not yet born on that day twenty-five years ago, but—like those alive when JFK was assassinated or when the Challenger exploded— those of us who were will never forget where we were when we heard the news of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and near Shanksville, PA. I was hanging laundry on the clothesline in my yard that morning when my mom called to tell me to turn on the TV, that something terrible had happened. My husband was at work, and my three-year old was still safely asleep in bed.
At Geneva College, the majority of the college community was at Chapel when news of the terrorist attacks broke. Chaplain Timothy Russell asked Sam Siple, Director of Public Relations and Marketing, to announce the news to the assembled students and faculty.
Shortly following Chapel, with the main concern to care for students on campus, Dean Joy Jewell assembled a brainstorming meeting of the Crisis Coordination Team. As an immediate result, at around 10:30 a.m. classes and all formalized activities were cancelled to allow for different ways of processing the trauma. Dean Jewell ordered the American flag in Old Main Circle to be flown at half-mast. The Crisis Team called for a prayer vigil to be held, which was attended by hundreds of students.
2001- Students Watching Reports of Attacks
On the morning of Friday, September 14, a day set aside by President George W. Bush as a National Day of Prayer, Geneva students and staff congregated around the flagpole outside of Old Main to lift their voices in supplication to God for our nation. President Jack White reminded the students of the peace that we have in Christ, quoting Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.”
The Cabinet published a special issue that Friday, including numerous articles and student reactions to the Tuesday terrorist attacks and how it was handled on campus.. The next day, President White addressed a packed Reeves Stadium before the Geneva-Westminster football game, and led the crowd in prayer before kickoff. Ticket sales, and firefighters at the gates, raised money for relief efforts.
2001- Day of Prayer, Old Main Flagpole
When US Airways, along with most other major airlines, reduced its flights and its workforce, Geneva took steps to mitigate the hardship for out-of-work airline employees. Tuition was slashed by 40 percent for former US Airways workers who lost their jobs as a result of the airline belt-tightening. At that time, US Airways was the single largest employer of Beaver County residents. This discount also applied to spouses and dependents.
In the weeks following the terrorist attacks Geneva College showed the same heightened patriotism that was seen across the country. American flags appeared all over campus, including a second-floor balcony of Young Hall North, a second-floor balcony of Geneva Arms Men’s, at Memorial Hall’s front entrance, and above the front door of McCartney Library.
The Geneva community also participated in fundraising for the Fire Department of New York in the aftermath of the devastating attacks.
The Cabinet published many articles, letters, and insights about the attacks in the issues following 9/11. The 2002 Genevan yearbook, published the following spring, promoted the theme “Coming Together,” and featured a sixpage spread on the 9/11 tragedy, including a full-page message from President White pledging prayer for our country and for national repentance.
Bethany (Cerbus) Campbell wrote in the Geneva Magazine (Winter, 2021) on the 20th anniversary of 9/11:
2001- President White Addresses Reeves
“Looking back on our own history at Geneva, we can be encouraged and perhaps convicted by how the students on campus during that national tragedy in 2001 responded to such an insurmountable shared grief. In the shock that enveloped the community in the weeks and months afterward, Geneva participated in fundraising for the Fire Department of New York City (FDNY), and the men’s basketball team visited Ground Zero two months after 9/11 to commemorate the loss of so many lives.”
To mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks in 2021, Geneva’s Student Veterans Club placed over 3,000 American flags on the Alumni lawn to represent the lives lost on 9/11. Geneva community members sponsored the flags planted for $1.00 each. The College hosted a special Geneva Visiting Artist and Lecture Series (GVALS) on September 16, featuring several speakers who spoke of their personal memories of 9/11 and a law professor discussing how our constitutional rights are affected in times of crisis. GVALs Constitution Day Scholar, Brad Jacobs, led a lecture the next day called, “The Constitution and 9/11,” and on Saturday the sponsored a bus trip to the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
This year, the Center for Faith and Life Faculty Fellows (Henrique Alvim, Matthew Fuss, Mildred Johnson, and Joel Ward) hosted a gathering in Skye Lounge at 3:30 p.m. utilizing a Dialogue Wheel to discuss the 9/11 terrorist attacks and their cultural impact. Dialogue Wheels use a roundtable format to create conversations about important questions of faith and life, enacting the practices of good collegial deliberation and bringing people together who approach issues from different perspectives. Each of these Fellows had unique and profound experiences of that historic event, and the discussion was both deeply educational and personally impactful.
2001- Terrorsit Attack, Front Page of The Cabinet
Bethany Campbell concluded her 2021 Geneva Magazine article with these words: “By Presidential proclamation, the days leading up to 9/11 are now called National Days of Prayer and Remembrance, and 9/11 is called Patriot Day. This proclamation reminds us to look after the needs of others with the same spirit that helps us see them as eternal beings and ourselves as servants of the One True God with all the perseverance and hope needed to live a meaningful life in the ashes of tragedies like 9/11.”
KAE KIRKWOOD
