Union County College Will Pause to Remember 9/11

As Cranford continues to recover from the destruction and turmoil caused by Hurricane Irene, the Student Government Association of Union County College soldiers on, working diligently before the semester has even began, planning events to help the community.

On Sept. 9, Union County College will hold a memorial service on each of its three main campuses to honor those who tragically passed on that fateful Tuesday morning, 10 years ago. The memorial service will begin on the Cranford, Plainfield and Elizabeth campuses at 8:46 a.m. with a minute of silence, marking the moment when the first tower was struck by a plane at the hands of terrorists.

“We have been sending out mass emails to all of our professors to remind them to take a minute during their instruction to pause for the moment of silence,” Irene Domingo, Student at Large for the Cranford Campus noted. “We will also have Student Government officers stationed and fliers posted throughout campus to remind people about the memorial service.”

The fliers contain not only information regarding the memorial ceremony, but an invitation for all students to express their thoughts and feelings on banners that will be posted around the schools the week of Sept. 6. Domingo went on to explain that the memorial service will continue at noon with a speech from Union County College President Margaret McMenamin and a special presentation.

“We want to honor one fireman and one policeman who risked their lives to rescue victims from the World Trade Center by presenting them with flowers and a plaque. This wasn’t an event the Student Government Association threw together at the last minute. We knew that carefully planning this ceremony was the appropriate thing to do,” Irene said.  

The 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 is an emotional time for many, as we are reminded of how suddenly our lives can become disrupted by disaster. Nick Basso has been the associate director of Public Safety at UCC since 2008. He expressed confidence in the security and safety of the college’s students ensuring that if a disaster were ever to occur at the college, staff and local authorities are prepared to rush to the aid of the students.

“The college uses a mass notification system to notify students in case of an emergency,” Basso said. “Should such a situation arise, we would do the best we can to protect everyone on campus by working together with the staff and cooperating with local authorities.”

Basso urges students to sign up for the notification system by visiting the school’s website.

“We use text message alerts and email to get in contact with students who have joined the system. If you don’t sign up for the mass notification system, we can’t notify you. It is essential that students join immediately so that they can be aware of what is happening on campus. This includes everything from severe weather alerts and school closings to major disasters,” Basso said.

As Sept. 11 approaches, the students and faculty at Union County College will pause to remember a time when our nation stood together as one. Domingo and the rest of the Student Government Association are hoping to bring their peers together once again, to honor those who fell victim to terror, 10 years ago. Irene and her fellow Student Government Officer James De La Cruz recently rolled out a hand painted banner that was created shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center.

“We will display this banner in the Cranford Campus Commons on Sept. 9,” Irene said. “We chose to hold the ceremony in the Commons instead of the auditorium so that more students could attend.  We want everybody to be a part of this memorial as we remember Sept. 11, 2001,” Domingo said.