Sidewalks in the academic quad were lined with hundreds of American flags last Monday in remembrance of Sept. 11, 2001, the deadliest terrorist attack in history. 

Monday was the 22nd anniversary of Sept. 11, in which four coordinated airline hijackings and suicide terrorist attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist organization. Al-Qaeda’s goal was to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic state, and the attacks killed 2,977 people and injured 6,000 more across New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, which is about 90 miles west of Shippensburg. 

For over the past two decades, Shippensburg University’s Military Science Department has supported the university’s Sept. 11 memorial ceremonies. This has included the tradition of placing American flags on the quad, according to U.S. Army Lt. Col. and military science department Chair Nicole Jepsen. 

This year, cadets of SU’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) maintained the flags on the quad while additionally setting up a table in the Ceddia Union Building (CUB) to recognize alumni who gave their lives in the global war on terror, which was instigated by the 9/11 attacks. 

One thing missing this year, however, was the annual Sept. 11 ceremony hosted outside the library. 

In previous years, Shippensburg University hosted an annual 9/11 ceremony outside Ezra Lehman Memorial Library at around 9:45 a.m., according to posts on SU’s Instagram account, the oldest post from Sept. 6, 2016. These events would feature guest speakers such as Jepsen and Maria Maresca, cadet battalion commander, in 2022. 

Concerns about the missing ceremony were brought to staff members of The Slate by students who showed up at the library expecting another yearly ceremony but were met with nothing.  

Hannah Culp, SU ROTC battalion commander, said they could not do the ceremony this year but wanted to do something for remembrance of the tragic event. Culp assisted with the flags in the academic quad and the table in the CUB, which was received well according to Culp.

Culp spoke on the lack of memorial ceremony, explaining that the university wants to do a ceremony every five years now.

When asked questions from The Slate, Jepsen initially forwarded inquiries to the SU Office of Communications and Marketing. Megan Silverstrim, director of the office, said, “After much consideration and a decline in participation in recent years, a collaborative decision was made to continue the annual flag display in the quad to mark the anniversary of Sept. 11 but discontinue the yearly ceremony.” 

SU will now host a ceremony on larger anniversaries, the next taking place in 2026 for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, according to Silverstrim.

Jepsen responded two hours after Silverstrim, specifying that the Department of Military Science has not been in charge of planning and running events but has “welcomed the opportunity to participate.” 

“It is good we still get to have something because there is less awareness around it. I think we are forgetting,” Culp said about this year’s participation. 

Culp attributed the lack of awareness to the fact that traditional college-aged students were very young or not even born yet when the event happened. Culp added the new tabling event this year, saying a lot of students stopped by to remember 9/11 and “never forget,” a slogan universally associated with the 22-year-old terrorist attack. 

“I hope we never forget; you know what I mean? And not just the bad things, but the way America really rallied behind something. It was really beautiful,” Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Lissner said as he and Culp helped put flags away on Tuesday. 

Similar concerns about remembering 9/11 are echoed by civilian students. 

“Personally, I think that 9/11 has been desensitized over the last two decades. It seems as though more and more people tend to bring less awareness to the event as time goes on,” Patricia Gaydar, a junior history major, said when asked about her thoughts on remembering the event. 

Gaydar was born in September 2002, and has vivid memories of time in kindergarten spent learning about Sept. 11 with coloring pages. Even as she approached middle school, her teachers would dedicate time to teaching full lessons on the attack. Since coming to college, Gaydar feels as if 9/11 “hasn’t been acknowledged at all.” 

“As a studying historian, I feel as though that 9/11 should always be in remembrance as a big turning point in history. It’s certainly going to be in the history books as time goes on, and instead of teachers or professors just setting aside their day to talk about it, it may be something that they’ll actually incorporate within their curriculum,” Gaydar said of Sept. 11’s historical significance.  

JJ Miller, another history student, said, “Having been born after 9/11, I’ve always been drawn to the aftermath and the legacy of what happened that day. Especially as a history and sociology student, I’m fascinated by how 9/11 has changed from a traumatic national event to a political talking point in just over two decades.”

Despite the recent changes to how SU celebrates Sept. 11, Silverstrim asserts that “[Shippensburg University] value[s] the importance of honoring those lost and the heroes that served on Sept. 11, but also understand[s] the work that our many campus organizations put into planning such an event.” 

The new plan will allow SU to support organizations including ROTC and student veterans and continue to honor the many sacrifices made that day, according to Silverstrim.

As another year post-9/11 goes by, Jepsen urges readers of The Slate to remember SU’s fallen alumni: 

Private First Class Nathaniel DeTample was a criminal justice major at Shippensburg University who joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. He died in Bayji, Iraq, on Aug. 9, 2005, when a mine exploded and enemy forces attacked using small arms fire. 

Staff Sgt. Sean Flannery was a 2003 graduate of Shippensburg University, who served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He died in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on Nov. 10, 2010, after being hit by an improvised explosive device. Maj. Wesley Hinkley was a 2001 graduate of Shippensburg University, who served as an Army Finance Officer. He died of noncombat-related causes in Baghdad, Iraq, on April 4, 2011, during his second deployment to the region.

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