President Lawrence S. Bacow's Remarks
Ballou Hall, On the Quad
September 11, 2001

For my parents' generation, Pearl Harbor was a defining event in their lives. For my generation, the assassinations of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy had the same impact. I suspect that for each of you --- today will be a memory that will also be seared into your consciousness, forever.

We will have to wait for historians to write their books before we truly comprehend the magnitude of today's events. But as a community we can already begin to understand and share how this terrible tragedy is affecting us all.

Today's violence struck at every citizen and every resident of this great nation. Those who acted did not discriminate. Given the diversity of our country, it is all but certain that those who suffered included US residents and foreign visitors, blacks and whites, Hispanics and Asians, Christians, Moslems, and Jews. All of us have been touched. In some ways, all of our lives have been changed -- forever.

As we seek to make sense of these acts we must remind ourselves that we are a community, one that is caring and compassionate. Now is the time we must reach out to each other, to support those who have suffered grievous loss and to help those whose sense of peace and security have been violated. No one can be left behind.

We are a strong nation and Tufts is a strong community. We must move forward as a learning community. While we will pause to reflect and console, as we are doing today, we cannot let the acts of a few keep us from our mission. This is a place that prides itself on active citizenship. I challenge the community to think creatively about how we might lend our help to those who have suffered. It is our job to ensure that something positive comes out of this unspeakable tragedy. I have faith in you as I do in this nation. I know we will meet this challenge. Thank you.