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Chapel service, public discussions will commemorate the anniversary of Sept. 11th

By Amy Gage
September 8, 2002

St. Olaf College will commemorate the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States Sept. 11 with a day's worth of reflection, prayers and public conversations that urge Americans to keep moving forward.

All events are free and open to the public.

"I'm concerned that we not have just a backward-looking, remorseful perspective," says college President Christopher M. Thomforde. "We also have to ask: What does this event mean to all of us going ahead? I think the event raises some very important questions that I would like us to be talking about as a community, so we can discover answers that will work for us."

Pastor Bruce Benson, the college chaplain, will preside over a "Service of Lament and Hope" during the usual daily chapel time, at 10:10 a.m. in Boe Memorial Chapel. That afternoon, professors will lead conversations intended to allow people to mourn and ask the difficult questions that have arisen during the past year.

"We have to ask what appropriate patriotism means," Thomforde says. "Perhaps a second part of that question is: How do U.S. citizens have a healthy self-critical posture? Right now I don't sense a lot of that in this country.

"We also need to have interreligious dialogue. How do people from different faiths or no particular faith at all speak to each other and and learn from each other when an underlying principle for some people is that this was a religious event?"

From 1 to 4 p.m., the following discussions will take place on campus:

* "The Poetry of Grief," Associate Professor of English Karen Cherewatuk reads the poetry of Walt Whitman and invites those who wish to do so to share other poems, Buntrock Commons, room 142.

* "9/11 in a 7/11 World," by Professor of History and Director of American Studies James Farrell, 2 to 3 p.m., Buntrock Commons, black section of the ballroom.

* "Afghanistan 33 Years Ago," a slide presentation by Associate Professor of Chinese Richard Bodman, 2 to 3 p.m. Buntrock Commons, room 142.

* "9/11 As Experienced by the Term in the Middle East," by Professor of Mathematics Richard Allen and Professor of French Wendy Allen, both of whom were in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sept. 11, 2001, 2:15 to 3:15 p.m., Buntrock Commons, Valhalla Room.

* "Morality and Terrorism," by Professor of Religion and Director of the Great Conversation Program Edmund Santurri, 3 to 4 p.m., Buntrock Commons, room 143.

* "Islam for Beginners," by Associate Professor of Sociology Bruce Nordstrom-Loeb, 3:30 to 4 p.m., Buntrock Commons, room 144.

Later this fall, St. Olaf will host two other public events related to the after-effects of the terrorist attacks. Dr. David Little, a Harvard University professor who specializes in religion, ethnicity and international conflict, will give a speech on "Religion, Terrorism and National Security" on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. That event will be held in the ballroom of Buntrock Commons.

And on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m., also in the Buntrock Commons ballroom, Dr. Pauline Boss, an author and professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, will discuss "Ambiguous Loss."

Harvard University Press published her book of the same name in 1999.

Open and honest dialogue about difficult events is essential on a college campus, Thomforde says. "I think the role of the academy, and especially a college of the church, is to apply critical, thoughtful reflection upon human events, so that we can bring some understanding to them," he explains.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.