By Tom Vielkind SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Lockerbie, Scotland is 20 miles north of the border with England, and nearly 350 miles north of London, England.
Yet with a population a quarter of the size of Syracuse’s undergraduate, the town and university will forever have a unique and unbreakable bond.
This year will be 31 years since a bomb exploded on Pan American Flight 103, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew on board, including 35 Syracuse University students coming home from studying abroad.
This week, Syracuse University is remembering the tragedy in its annual Remembrance Week observance. Events begin today and will continue through this Friday. A full list of events will be listed below.
Each year, 35 rising seniors at Syracuse University are chosen to represent each of those lost in the bombing. They engage in conversation around the event and help to plan and orchestrate remembrance events around campus. In addition to the 35 Syracuse Students, two students from Lockerbie, Scotland are welcomed to the community as “Lockerbie Scholars”
In addition to the 243 passengers and 16 crew killed, 11 Lockerbie citizens were killed by falling debris.
Remembrance week runs from Monday October 21 until Friday October 25.
- Monday – Ribbon tying on the Orange Grove from 9:30 A.M. until 2:00 P.M., and a panel discussion on “Terror in the Digital Age” in Watson Theater at 6:00 P.M.
- Tuesday – Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholars will sit in 35 empty seats on the SU Quad for 35 minutes in honor of where the victims sat on Pan Am Flight 103, from 1:28 to 2:03 P.M., the time when the tragedy occurred.
- Wednesday – A “Mirror Me” display will be in Bird Library all day to show that the victims could have been anyone, followed by an “All-American Terrorism” panel discussion at 7:00 P.M. in Gifford Auditorium.
- Thursday – “Open Archives” of Pan Am 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives selections will be available for view in the Spectator Room of Bird Library from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M., with a Celebration of Life performance night featuring current Remembrance Scholars and students in Slocum Auditorium. Doors open at 7:00 P.M., with the program running from 7:30 to 9:00 P.M.
- Friday – “Open Archives” will continue to be on display in room 608 of Bird Library from 9:00 A.M. to noon, followed by a rose laying ceremony at the Place of Remembrance in front of the Hall of Languages at 2:03 P.M., and concluding with Remembrance Scholar Convocation at 3:00 P.M. in Hendrick’s Chapel to honor this year’s Remembrance and Lockerbie scholars.
- Monday-Friday – Every day there will be a Pledge to Remember in which members of the campus community will be encouraged to pledge 35 hours of service to a local organization, 35 empty seats on the SU Quad to represent where the Syracuse students sat, pen-and-ink drawings and posters of the 35 SU students will be on display throughout campus, and Hall of Languages will be lit blue.
