GVSU remembers 9/11 on 25th anniversary

On this 25th anniversary of 9/11, members of the GVSU Student Senate fanned out in the early morning to carry out the solemn tradition of placing flags on the Kirkhof Lawn to represent each life lost in the attack.

“I believe that remembering 9/11 acts as a very unifying thing on a college campus," said Lukas Hartley, Student Senate president. "It's a moment where everyone can come together, remember the lives that were lost and appreciate what they have and who they have.”

Hartley and his fellow Lakers, who know about this event through the lens of history, were carrying on a tradition started in the years after 9/11 by those who personally remembered it.

The impact on campus endures a generation later.

Part of the reason the tribute resonates, of course, is the varied experiences with 9/11 that everyone on campus has.

President Philomena V. Mantella has talked previously about how she had worked on the 55th floor of the World Trade Center before leaving a job just months before the attack. She emphasized the need to "remember to mark that day in history and to learn from its many impacts."

The different lived experiences of such a seismic event is noteworthy when it still is fresh for so many generations, said Matthew Daley, professor of history and a public historian. 

Those with personal recollections have a "possessive investment in it of preserving their shock, their experience, their sacrifice in the terms of veterans. And those can be extremely powerful and really, can be cathartic, for those, in the sense of preserving, who say we need to remember the past," Daley said.

Memories and commemorations are part of observing 9/11, he said, but there also is a contemporary feel. "It's still kind of an active part of our shared cultural memory, but how is it shared? How is that transmitted?"

The social cues are also still relatively fresh, he said, unlike looking back at a time like World War II.

"The internet was here, but it wasn't what it is. Cell phones were here, but they weren't what they are now," Daley said. "You still have that sort of cultural familiarity."

This was the third year that Hartley has placed the flags. He remembers hearing about the tradition for the first time early on in his Student Senate experience. 

“And at the time, I didn't really appreciate the scale or how much of a tradition it actually was," Hartley said. "And now three years later, I've seen firsthand how the campus rallies around the tradition. Students come to expect it and appreciate it. I think it's really valuable for Student Senate to continue this tradition, not just because it's always been done, but because it's such a valuable unifier, it pays respect to the victims and brings the campus together in a day of remembrance.”

Former Grand Valley President Mark A. Murray has discussed the uncertainty for the country and campus after the event and how he was mindful of the number of people on campus who had just moved away from home.

He said the subsequent campus gatherings were a light during those times.

"The campus rallied magnificently," Murray recalled. "The conversations were very respectful and fruitful, and the community rallied together to take care of each other."