Vanderbilt University will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States with a memorial event planned for Alumni Lawn on Sept. 10 and an opportunity for reflection at Benton Chapel on Sept. 11.
Sept. 10 – Alumni Lawn
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 10, tables will be set up near the Alumni Lawn flagpole, and Vanderbilt community members will have the opportunity to light an electric candle and/or write a note to express their sorrow, reflect on their sense of loss, or offer a prayer for peace and healing. The university mourns the three Vanderbilt alumni who perished in the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001—Terence E. “Ted” Adderley, Mark D. Hindy and Davis Grier “Deeg” Sezna Jr.—and all those lost on 9/11.
First responders from the Nashville Fire Department have been invited to attend and be recognized. Staff and affiliate chaplains from Vanderbilt’s Center for Spiritual and Religious Life will be present to provide spiritual and emotional support.
Sept. 11 – Benton Chapel
From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11, Benton Chapel will be open for Vanderbilt community members to come and go for periods of meditation and reflection. Electric candles will be available to memorialize those lost in the attacks, the Center for Spiritual and Religious Life will provide prompts for guided reflection, and notecards will be on hand for community members to record their thoughts and prayers.
The Kirkland Hall bells will toll at 9:28 a.m. CT Saturday to mark the time of the collapse of the World Trade Center’s North Tower on Sept. 11, 2001.
Virtual panel discussion
In addition, Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy will host a virtual discussion on Friday, Sept. 10, reflecting on the legacy of 9/11.
“9/11: Two Decades Later” will begin at noon CT and feature Samar Ali, research professor of law and political science, who was an undergraduate student at Vanderbilt in September 2001; Jon Meacham, Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair in American Presidency and a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian; and Ganesh Sitaraman, New York Alumni Chancellor’s Chair in Law at Vanderbilt and a constitutional law scholar.
The discussion is open to the public, and registration is required. Learn more here.