Remembrance of September 11: Vanessa Faurie | New

By VANESSA FAURIE

Retired Editor, Illinois Alumni Magazine, and Vice President / Communications, UI Alumni Association

On the morning of September 11, 2001, my family saw reports of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center as we were getting ready for school and work – my husband; our young girls, then aged 6 and 4; and our exchange high school student, who had just stood on the WTC observation deck a month earlier when she arrived in the United States from Italy.

By the time I arrived at my office at the University of Illinois Alumni Association of the Illini Union and turned on the television, my colleagues and I were stunned and alarmed along with the rest of the world. as what was now clearly understood to be the attacks on the United States continued to come.

We had two colleagues who were hosting a group of alumni in Europe who were due to return home that day when all air travel to American soil stopped. Employees from our Chicago office across from the Sears Tower were evacuated as a precaution.

We had just gone to press for the September / October 2001 issue of Illinois Alumni magazine, so there would be no mention of this tragedy by the time readers received it. However, we were able to add a banner at the bottom of the cover at the last minute, indicating that there would be cover in the next issue. And so we began to piece together the pieces of how the University of Illinois family was touched and affected by this terrible day.

I’ve never been so proud of my communications team – Editor-in-Chief Beatrice Pavia, Associate Editor Scott Spilky, Artistic Director Stephanie Swift, Director of Internet Services Susan McKenna and our trusted freelancers – as I am. was at that time, when they called for such professionalism and determination. despite the grief, fear, and anger we all felt, to compassionately document the stories of former 9/11 IU alumni for history. We even created an online bulletin board – which was a relatively new concept at the time – so alumni and friends could register and stay informed in the days and weeks that followed.

The November / December 2001 issue contained the heart-wrenching stories of former students killed in the New York and Pentagon attacks.

There was the young alumnus, for example, who felt so lucky to work “on top of the world” at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center. The orange and blue Illini flag that once hung proudly above the sofa in her New York apartment now hangs in her parents’ basement family room. “He will stay there forever,” his mother said.

There was the former student whose husband left Boston that morning as she watched the live coverage unfold on television. When the second plane hit, a sick fear filled her. Several agonizing hours later, she learned that it was her plane that she had seen crash. “It’s a lonely place to be half of who we used to be,” she said later.

There was the New York firefighter who came to Champaign every year to teach the Illinois Fire Service Institute who was climbing up the tower when it collapsed. “I don’t know if he knew the tower was in danger of collapsing,” said a colleague. “But I know it wouldn’t have made any difference.”

In addition, there were the alumni stories of:

– Journalists who documented early reports of what was happening – their hands shaking as they typed.

– The doctor who treated the first responders on site at the WTC who ended up joining the bucket brigade and helped recover a policeman living from the rubble.

– Eyewitnesses who watched the attacks in New York City from their office windows and had to walk through the ominous gray haze of ash and debris-strewn streets to return home.

– The engineer who was in charge of the federal investigation into the WTC building collapse and infrastructure repair experts working on rebuilding the Pentagon and how to make the buildings more resilient.

We also included extensive campus coverage and reaction in the days after 9/11 – rallies by the thousands on the Quad and in the Great Hall of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts to mourn and comfort one another. . The chancellor at the time, Nancy Cantor, had only been in office since August. A student who attended the vigil on the Quad said, “This is a historic moment and I feel obligated to witness it. “

Other thousands of people from the campus and the larger community of Champaign-Urbana also gathered at Memorial Stadium on September 15 for a moment of remembrance. The formal program ended with the Marching Illini playing “America the Beautiful” and everyone joined in to sing along. But the crowd in the west stands lingered, reluctant to let the moment pass.

Our campus story concluded: “And so the Marching Illini embarked on ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’, as thousands of people waved American flags and people who were once foreigners moved on. crossed the aisles to reach out and kiss. “

So when I reflect on September 11, I remember our nation reeling from a shared vulnerability that, through empathy, gradually transformed into a shared determination to stand together in strength, l love and unity.