Diamondback Sept 12 2002, Front Page.

Several white sheets billowed across the center of
McKeldin Mall yesterday, carrying messages of hope,
peace, fear and love - notes scrawled in neon highlighter
one year ago today.

The simple sheets marked a humble memorial on the mall
yesterday, echoes of the somber mood of the campus
community. While some students awoke early to reflect at
the morning ceremony, others came to give answers to
students seeking them - suggesting "peace, not war" and
promoting Islam.

As students, faculty and staff came and left throughout
the morning, the fading neon messages were a symbol of
rare unity. Written last year when the university
community came together to cope with the trauma of Sept.
11, the banners represent a short time period when people
here - who find few occasions for unity - showed
seemingly genuine compassion for one another.

"It's so hard to put it all into words," said freshman
cell molecular biology and genetics major Mollie Minear.
"I was walking around reading the banners. It was really
touching to see how everyone tried to come together and
have hope for the future and at the same time, not forget
the past."

Minear was one of thousands of students, faculty and
staff members who attended the university's memorial
service yesterday morning. The service - titled
"Remembrance of the Past, Hope for the Future" - was
simple and unadorned, featuring students reading the
3,044 attack victims' names and patriotic musical
performances.

"We didn't want something to overshadow people's
feelings," said memorial organizer Pat Perfetto, director
of conferences and visitor services. "We wanted a
low-key, comfortable ceremony for people to come together
if they wanted to come together, and that's what it ended
up being."

At the close of the service, attendees were invited to
each take a rock, a simple memento with "9/11" painted on
it. The simplicity seemed to have an effect on those in
attendance.

"I think it's been pretty solemn, people have been pretty
respectful and quiet," said senior history major John
Welton. "Usually you hear some banter about classes, but
I haven't heard more than five or six words. People are
going by in a daze. My roommate walked by me and he
didn't even see me."

Flags in front of the Administration Building flew at
half-mast and six floral wreaths were placed in front of
banners commemorating the times of the four plane crashes
and the World Trade Center tower collapses last year. The
mall was peppered with students in "I Love N.Y." shirts
and American flag apparel. Some embraced friends, while
others sat alone somberly staring ahead or fiddling with
grass as the names of the victims were listed off.

"The names didn't have an effect on me, but when they
stopped and said the towers fell it made me realize all
the people had died in those towers," said freshman
government and politics major Seamus Hughes. "It made all
those images come back.

"It was solemn," Hughes said. "It was kind of nice to see
the community get together. They didn't try to be
cheesy."

Some student groups used the ceremony for politicking.  
Members of the Peace Forum held signs calling for "Peace
not war," and the Muslim Student Association distributed
information on Islam.

"We wanted to have a presence here today so people would
know although Sept. 11 was a tragedy and there were a lot
of innocent lives lost, it shouldn't result in lives lost
in other countries. We are worried the government is
going to use Sept. 11 to justify war in Iraq," said
Melissa Cuerdon, a junior philosophy major and Peace
Forum spokeswoman.

Members of the Muslim Student Association wore signs that
let people know to "ask us about Islam" and passed out
books about the Quran to those interested.

"Islam has gotten a lot of bad press," said one member
who asked not to be named. "We're not here to impose on
the ceremony, we're just here if people want to come talk
to us."

Other students were upset classes were not canceled, even
though schools and businesses across the country remained
open.

"It just added more stress to students who had to make a
choice between going to class or missing it at the
beginning of the semester to attending the events today,"
said Veronica Cooney, a junior individual studies major.

Cooney said she planned to spend the day personally
reflecting and reading the messages on the banners.

"It brings back out the strength in America we had last
year," she said. "I'm just blown away by what's on
there."