Students gathered at the Rotunda for an interfaith candlelight vigil at twilight yesterday to remember Sept. 11, 2001 with readings, poems and songs.
Sarah Jobe, the chief of staff and religious affairs chairwoman for Student Council, said before the vigil that she hoped commemorative events such as last night's would spur students of different faiths to educate themselves and interact more with one another.
"It's easy to slip back into complacency when you're removed from the direct effects of the situation," she said. "Religious organizations are still doing their own thing as much as they ever were, and I hope this will act as a jumping-off point for change."
At the vigil, Jobe encouraged those gathered to write their reactions on "ribbons of remembrance," that were collected in boxes at the end of the evening.
The ribbons, along with similar notes collected at yesterday's ceremony at University Hall, will be used in a memorial on a fence of the Thomas Snyder tennis courts at the intersection of Emmet Street and University Avenue. Eventually they will be housed in special collections in Alderman Library.
Among those students working on the memorial is fourth-year Commerce student Jeff Scherr, who leads the student Interfaith Council. After the vigil, he said interfaith dialogue needs to be strengthened.
"I think there's a long way to go. The further Sept. 11 became part of the past, the harder it came to bring people together," he said. "People did seem to be more interested about how other faiths functioned."
After Jobe gave an introduction with a poem by Asian and Middle Eastern Languages Assoc. Prof. Farzaneh Milani, students of six different faiths read excerpts from religious texts.
At the heart of the hour-long vigil, Religious Studies Prof. Abdul-Aziz Sachedina spoke about the sense of community he felt at last year's vigil, and exhorted those present to rely on and help each other in that community again.
"Think of those who suffer around you," he said. "You are not the only one who is grieving. We go on living, because that is required of us. But don't feel that you are alone."
The student leaders followed Sachedina with guided prayer and meditation, and the vigil concluded with the vocal group Black Voices, as the students sitting before them lit candles.
Before the vigil, Muslim Student Association Chair Zeenat Iqbal said that last year's attacks prompted her to begin to educate herself and others about Islam.
"I realized I didn't know as much as I thought about Islam," she said. "I've noticed a lot of people have turned to their religions a lot more. And we're looking to the Middle East a lot more too."
Iqbal echoed Jobe's comments about the lack of interfaith communication.
"We did not have much interaction with other religious organizations last year," she said. "We're trying to expand our connections."
Religious Studies Prof. Vanessa Ochs, the director of Jewish studies, said that connections among different faiths have been revitalized and sustained over the past year.
"Last year, we were all taking turns holding up each other and being resources for each other, and we've learned to be in dialogue with each other," she said. "This year, when Sachedina said that we were a community, I thought, 'Of course, I know exactly what that means.'"
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