Remembering September 11th at NJIT

Tuesday September 11, 2001 started out normally as an early semester day.  The temperature was seasonable as there were no clouds in the sky.  After I completed a freshman seminar tour that morning, a colleague told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.  At that point everyone thought it was just a terrible accident.  As time passed I heard about the second plane hitting the WTC and the third at the Pentagon and the fourth crashing in Western Pennsylvania.  Everyone knew that this was a terrorist attack.  NJIT stayed open until 12 noon.  Since public transportation had stopped, I had no way of getting home.  My boss, Rich Sweeney, invited me to stay at his home that night.  His son Tommy worked nearby at the World Financial Center, so Rich did not know his status.  Tommy came home about 4 PM.  Classes resumed the next day as we found out that the wife of the new Dean of Students perished in the South Tower.

All of our lives have changed since that dreadful day.  There is a memorial on campus (see above) to remember several alumni and a former trustee who were lost.