How 9/11 Affected the CUNY System
Photo by Lars Mulder.
Words by Fabliha Hussain.
September 11, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11, a day of tragedy in which a terrorist group called al-Qaeda attacked New York City, resulting in the death of thousands and the destruction of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Borough of Manhattan Community College, a CUNY located a few blocks away from the World Trade Center, was dealt damage. It is the only CUNY to have lost a building and eight students/alumni that day.
Many people who died in the attacks on 9/11 were CUNY alumni. Ronald P. Bucca was one such alumnus. Bucca graduated from John Jay and he was an FDNY Fire Marshall who sacrificed his life during the attacks to save the lives of many others. John Jay, a CUNY campus that is focused on training law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical professionals, lost many alumni during 9/11. Fifty-five firefighters who were John Jay alumni, like Bucca, and four police officers died that day while saving others.
The community of New York City College of Technology banded together that day to offer food, water, cell phones, and first aid to those fleeing the destruction. Every September 11, CUNY pays their respects to all those who died, both those who were members of the CUNY community and those who were not.
20 years later, the students entering CUNY colleges may be too young to remember this tragedy. In fact, soon enough, a large majority of the student population would have been born before 9/11 ever occurred. This change of student body makes it even more important that 9/11 is remembered, and those lost lives celebrated.
This year, John Jay and Borough of Manhattan Community College will be holding virtual events and the College of Staten Island will be livestreaming the memorial service from the campus’s 9/11 memorial site. New York City College of Technology will project a series of 9/11 posters. Queens College will have a commemorative in-person event, and the bells in its library will toll to mark the moments the towers were hit and when they collapsed. Queensborough Community College will hold a photography installation and a student poster exhibit. Hunter College will have a campus-wide moment of silence, and it plans to create a prototype of a plaque to honor the students who died. Bronx Community College will lower its flag, toll its bells, and hold a prayer service. Brooklyn College will also follow suit of Queens College by tolling its bells, a tradition that began in 2002.
With these events and others being held every year on 9/11 by CUNY, we hope to make sure that all students, both new and old, remember this piece of history and all the lives it affected.
