Letter to the Students
28 September 2001
Dear Students,
The catastrophic events of 11 September have injured us all. Some of us have lost loved ones — a loss that pains and impoverishes our entirety — and we have all lost a world as we once knew it. We are all bereaved.
In our bereavement, our best resource is in our families and in one another. In this sense, the Brooklyn College community serves us as a family. We gather here around shared ideals, a shared vision of our future, and a conviction that by working together we can attain these ideals and create our chosen future.
Brooklyn College is dedicated to preparing a diverse student body to live and serve in a globally interdependent world. The heart of this enterprise is our students. We owe you a first-class education, in a safe environment, and the support services that will enable you to take full advantage of our academic offerings so that you may learn to understand the world you will enter after college and build productive lives there.
We at Brooklyn College have responded to the events of these last weeks by redoubling our efforts on behalf of our students. We offer information around the clock by telephone and on the Web, heightened security on campus, and advice on personal safety. The College has organized volunteer activities, donations, and blood drives. Counselors from the Office of Personal Counseling want to help our students deal with the emotional impact of the tragedy and have reached out to provide comfort and solace. The Office of Student Life has sponsored vigils to honor the victims and gatherings where we can join together to reflect on what has happened. Professors and students have discussed the events and students’ concerns in class, and we hope you found these discussions helpful. If we can be of further help, I invite you to contact me.
In this period of mourning a loss we all have suffered, we rededicate ourselves to the College mission with the sense of unity and common enterprise that makes Brooklyn College a special place. By working constructively toward our shared ideal, we can create from the ruins of the present a future worth living for.
Sincerely,
