Dear NYU Alumni,

Each of us will find his or her own way to commemorate the tragic
events of September 11, 2001. I want to share with you two items
that may be of interest to you as members of the NYU community.

First, Showtime, the cable television movie channel, began
working with the graduate film program at the Tisch School of
the Arts last October, ultimately tapping a group of nine young
NYU filmmakers to create films that evolve from that terrible
day. Showtime will begin airing those films, collectively
titled “Reflections from Ground Zero” this evening.

The films explore the effects of September 11th through
documentaries and narratives, which run anywhere from 2 - 20
minutes in length. "Reflections from Ground Zero" examines
diverse themes and perspectives including stories of personal
tragedy, ordinary heroes, patriotism, religion, New York City
and the continued hope for peace.

For those of you who are subscribers to Showtime, I think you
will find the work of these young artists from NYU’s Kanbar
Institute of Film and TV, who – because of NYU’s location – found
themselves in proximity to the World Trade Center collapse, to be
compelling. For more information on the schedule of when these
films will be shown, please go the Showtime website at
www.sho.com.

Second, I want to share with you a message from John Sexton,
NYU’s President, reflecting on that day and the future.

In it, he alludes to the many events commemorating that day that
will take place on campus, including two all–University events, a
moment of silence and a candlelight vigil. These are open to all
members of the NYU community, and should you wish to participate,
we would welcome you presence. Information about the full range
of NYU’s commemorative activities can be found at a special
website, www.nyu.edu/9.11.

As we all struggle to come to terms with the 9/11 attacks on the
occasion of the upcoming anniversary, I wish you all peace.

Best Wishes,
Adrienne A. Rulnick
Senior Director of University Development & Alumni Relations


FORWARDED MESSGAE FROM PRESIDENT JOHN SEXTON FOLLOWS

Dear Fellow Members of the NYU Community,

A year ago, we all endured a day that altered our sense of
personal well-being and safety, our notion of our place in the
world, our image of the future, even the skyline we observe
looking southward from the park at the heart of campus. The
memories from that day are not merely vivid, they are indelible.

At a year’s distance, we should take time to reflect on that
grievous day.

That attack demolished one of the city’s most recognizable spaces
and snatched away thousands of innocent lives – including the
lives of members of this community. Its impact was
disorientingly massive in scope, and its cruelty was
reathtaking.

Yet New Yorkers are at their best when things seem at their
worst. The people of our city responded with valor, with
compassion, with resolve. The men and women of our uniformed
services came to be the world’s embodiment of courage, fortitude
and sacrifice. Our public leaders showed determination and
conveyed the sense that even when the world had become mystifying
and frightening, there were steady hands to guide us. Every New
Yorker eagerly sought some way to help – by giving blood, by
collecting clothes for rescue workers, by comforting the
bereaved, and even by picking up hand tools and walking downtown
to do what they could to pull life from the pile of debris.

On that day, everyone in the world became a New Yorker, and
everyone in New York became a rescue worker. This was no less
true for the men and women at New York University. I can think
of no day when we have come together more closely. Students
unhesitatingly opened their rooms to those who were displaced,
prepared meals for emergency workers, and collected clothing for
those at the World Trade Center. University staff worked
tirelessly to provide care for students and to minimize
isruption to our academic programs and operations. Faculty
conducted teach-ins and seminars, and sought to do what we do
best in a learning community: to try to craft understanding and
knowledge out of the seemingly senseless, and to begin the
thoughtful chronicle of this fateful time.

In New York’s worst moment, we knew our finest hour.

In his address at last spring’s Commencement, New York’s Police
Commissioner, Ray Kelly, urged our graduates to stay in the city,
saying, “The future is under construction here.” That advice has
been heeded – we have assembled one of the strongest and most
selective freshman classes in our history, and those of us who
were here before have stood fast.

I do not believe we were so much scarred by the events of 9/11 as
bonded together, and on the foundation of the moral power surge
that coursed through us all in its aftermath, we will build that
future for ourselves, for this University, for this city, and for
the world.

On Wednesday, there will be commemorations throughout the city.
NYU will hold its own University-wide commemorations – a
gathering for a moment of silent remembrance in front of Tisch
Hall in Gould Plaza in the morning, and a candlelight vigil in
Washington Square Park in the evening. I hope you will
participate.


John Sexton