Two months after the release of the only man convicted in the Pan Am 103 bombing, Syracuse University will be thinking about the tragedy for a different reason.

Sunday begins SU’s 13th Remembrance Week in honor of the victims who lost their lives in the terrorist bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988. Remembrance Week will bring events to campus to remember the victims.

The 3.5 for 35 Memorial Run, taking place on campus Sunday, is one of the events being held for Remembrance Week. Students can register to take part in the run online, through the Healthy Monday Web site. The registration fee is $5, and the run will start at Schine Student Center and lap around campus three times.

‘Every .1 mile walked is for one of the 35 SU victims,’ said Adam Popescu, Healthy Monday program manager. ‘The walk is a way to honor the people who have fallen, and a good way to exercise.’

Each year, 35 Remembrance Scholars, who represent the 35 students who died in the bombing, plan Remembrance Week. The scholars aim to honor the lives of the victims by raising awareness of the terrorist bombing.

The Remembrance Scholars each choose a victim to study and represent at Remembrance Week events. George Williams, a senior magazine and international relations major, is one of this year’s Remembrance Scholars and chose Eric Coker, one of the SU students killed in the bombing.

As a member of the alumni outreach committee, Williams contacted past Remembrance Scholars and the families and friends of victims to let them know about this year’s Remembrance Week and invite them to attend.

Judith O’Rourke, director of undergraduate studies at SU, has worked closely with the Remembrance Scholars.

‘I think a very significant point of the week is the education process. It is making people aware of how terrorism affects us directly and indirectly as individuals,’ O’Rourke said. ‘Service has a ripple effect to community involvement and creates an awareness of the events and actions that are occurring locally, nationally and worldwide that effect us.’

Flyers and posters have also gone up around campus to make people more aware of the purpose of Remembrance Week. In the Schine Atrium, there are ink drawings of the 35 student victims. Students will hand out pamphlets and tables in Schine, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and Martin J. Whitman School of Management to educate others about Remembrance Week.

Christina Simmons, one of this year’s Remembrance Scholars, was responsible for putting up the posters and flyers around campus to educate students about Remembrance Week.

‘All the scholars are amazing people, and it has been great getting to know and work with each other,’ said Simmons, a senior psychology, Spanish and communications science disorders major. She said the scholars will hand out carnations in Schine and on the Quad during the week to honor the victims.

‘We are focusing on getting the message out because, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know what the tragedy was,’ Simmons said.

‘Why We Remember: PAN AM 103 Symposium,’ will be held Monday at 7 p.m. in room 10 of Crouse Hinds Hall. Melissa Chessher, associate professor and chair of the magazine department, and Lawrence Mason, professor of visual and interactive communications, will be among the panelists discussing the connection between Lockerbie and Syracuse at the event.

On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., there will be performances by student groups remembering the lives of the victims.

A rose-laying ceremony will close out the week of events on Friday. The annual tradition will be held on the Wall of Remembrance in front of the Hall of Languages. The ceremony is held at 2:03 p.m., the time the bombing took place on Dec. 21, 1988.

Many of the victim’s families and friends will be attending the rose-laying ceremony, Williams said.

The event will accompany a campus-wide moment of silence in honor of the victims.

rltoback@syr.edu

Published on November 4, 2009 at 12:00 pm