Message
to Hunter College Students
By
Jennifer Raab, President
The
devastating events of September 11 affect every one of us at Hunter
College, as New Yorkers and human beings. On that first day, as
we began to comprehend the magnitude of the tragedy, we took immediate
steps to ensure that Hunter would be a place of safety. We made
every effort to gather accurate information and disseminate it
as quickly as possible. In addition to our on-line advisories,
we asked staff to spread the word throughout our corridors and
gathering places that Hunter would remain open for those in need
of a place to stay. I am enormously gratified by the instantaneous,
selfless response, as so many sprang into action, working together
for the common good: the staff who kept the cafeteria open late
for stranded students; Security and Facilities personnel who quickly
distributed our frequently updated bulletins and ensured a safe
exit for hundreds leaving our buildings at once; and representatives
from Student Government and other student groups that made their
offices and telephones available to those who needed help.
I’m also very proud of the students and others in the community
who instantly reached out to become part of the citywide rescue
and recovery efforts. Our nursing students volunteered their services
in hastily organized shelters in lower Manhattan. Indeed, the
ultimate sacrifice was made by one heroic Hunter-Brookdale nursing
student, Michael Mullan, who tragically perished with fellow firefighters
that Tuesday.
As we turned to planning a college-wide response to the 9/11 tragedy,
we tapped the resources of our School of Social Work and Department
of Psychology to suggest activities that would help us as a community
to express sorrow and begin the healing process. When classes
resumed on Thursday,—our “Healing Wall—lined the third-floor crosswalk.
You quickly filled up page after page, an outpouring that has
touched me deeply. We will bind these pages from our Healing Wall,
a permanent record of our individual and collective search for
meaning amid the madness of these days. September 14 and 20 were
special days of remembrance at Hunter. “Gathering spaces” on main
campus sites were open throughout each day as havens for the exchange
of feelings and thoughts in small groups. At the end of these
special days, several hundred students, faculty and staff members
came together for a more public expression of mourning and remembrance,
called “The Hunter Community Gathers to Bear Witness.” Here, we
shared stories, raised voices in song and joined hands, making
an unbroken chain. We are aware that more will be asked of us
in the coming months. In this place of learning and study, we
should—and will—move to a deeper analysis and discussion of the
September 11th attack and its ramifications. This presents both
an opportunity and a challenge: an opportunity to build a community
such as Hunter has never seen before, and a challenge to make
our Hunter community a place of openness and respect for the diversity
that defines us. Let a spirit of acceptance and respect be the
powerful legacy we leave from these terrible days.#
Jennifer
Raab is the President of Hunter College in New York City
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