This year marks the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The University of Baltimore lost three alumni that day:
- Joseph V. Maggitti, B.S. '75
- Seamus Oneal, M.S. '97
- Karen L. Seymour, B.S. '81.
On Sept. 11, 2002, the University honored their memory with a plaque placed in a garden on the west side of Gordon Plaza. It reads: "May their memory reaffirm our resolve to send a message of unity and peace to the world."
Beginning Tuesday, Sept. 13, and continuing throughout the fall semester, UBalt will commemorate the 10 years that have passed with a series of events, “Ten Years Later: The World 9/11 Made.” Among these offerings will be a course in the University’s Helen P. Denit Honors Program (see details below) as well as several one-time events sponsored by the Denit Honors Program and the UBalt Office of the Provost:
Tuesday, Sept. 13, 6 p.m.: Helen Whitney , documentary filmmaker, will present a discussion of her 2002 PBS documentary film, Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero , in the Lucy and Vernon Wright Theater in the UBalt Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave. Whitney and Arthur Magida, UBalt writer in residence in its School of Communication Design, will talk about the film and screen clips from it. PBS has shown the film every year on the anniversary of 9/11 and will do so again this year on Sept. 7.
Wednesday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m.: Spotlight UBalt and the Helen P. Denit Honors Program will co-sponsor a staged reading of Christopher Shorr's powerful witness play, Tribute: 9/11, in the Lucy and Vernon Wright Theater in the UBalt Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave. Written on the first anniversary of the tragedy and including witness accounts of both the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, Tribute is a moving reminder of the sacrifices made on that morning and in the years that followed. Directed by Michael Zemarel, the reading features Marianne Angelella, Lenneal Henderson, Karin Crighton, Rain Pryor, Steve Liechtenstein and Greg Jericho.
Thursday, Sept. 15, 6:15 p.m.: Legal experts and practitioners will address the impact of 9/11 on international law and on the United States' role in shaping international law in a panel discussion titled "The International Impact of 9/11." Panelists include David P. Stewart, director of the Global Law Scholars Program at Georgetown University Law Center;Eric Rosand, senior adviser on multilateral engagement for the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism;Karen Abravanel, an associate at Sullivan & Worcester who represented Guantanamo detainees while in private practice; and Morad Eghbal, general advisory partner at Linksource Consultants. This event takes place in the Venable Baetjer Howard Moot Court Room within the John and Frances Angelos Law Center, 1415 Maryland Ave, and is co-sponsored by UBalt's Center for International and Comparative Law, the International Law Society, the South Asian Law Students Association and the Latin American Law Students Association. (This event is not part of the "Ten Years Later" series.)
Thursday, Sept. 22, 5:30 p.m.: Faheem Younus, associate professor of infectious diseases in the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will speak on “Islam in America: Fact and Fiction,” in the UBalt School of Law’s Moot Court Room within the John and Frances Angelos Law Center, 1415 Maryland Ave. This event is presented by the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics.
Thursday, Oct. 6, 6 p.m.: Melani McAlister, associate professor of American Studies, International Affairs, and Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, will talk about American images of Muslims since 9/11, including perspectives from Arabs/Muslims. She is the author of Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East Since 1945. Her talk will be hosted in the M. Scot Kaufman Auditorium in the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center (home of the University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business).
Monday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m.: James Young, professor of history and Judaic studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an expert on public memory, will discuss the complicated issues involved in commemorating the events of Sept. 11. Young was appointed by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to the jury for the World Trade Center Site Memorial competition. Young’s talk will be hosted in the Lucy and Vernon Wright Theater in the UBalt Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave.
Tuesday, Oct. 25, 11 a.m.: Kelsang Chogden, practicing Buddhist nun at the Kadampa Meditation Center, will discuss “Buddhist Ethics and Terrorism,” in the UBalt School of Law’s Moot Court Room within the John and Frances Angelos Law Center, 1415 Maryland Ave. This event is presented by the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics.
Monday, Nov. 7, 6 p.m.: Irum Sheikh, filmmaker and author of Detained Without Cause: Muslims’ Stories of Detention and Deportation in America after 9/11, will discuss instances of significant mistreatment of Muslims after 9/11. Her talk will be hosted in the M. Scot Kaufman Auditorium in the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center.
Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2 p.m.: A panel discussion, entitled “So Many Religions, So Little Peace: Can Muslims, Jews and Christians Live Together in Harmony?,” will be held in the M. Scot Kaufman Auditorium in the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center, 11 W. Mt. Royal Ave. This event is presented by the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics. Participants for this panel will be announced shortly.
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 6 p.m.: Col. Pat Lang, private analyst and commentator on the Middle East, will discuss the changes brought about in business practices in the region since 9/11, and what business leaders should do to adapt. Lang has extensive military and commercial experience in the Middle East. His talk will be hosted in the M. Scot Kaufman Auditorium in the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center, 11 W. Mt. Royal Ave.
Tuesday, Dec. 6, 6 p.m.: Historian Jeremi Suri, holder of the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair in Global Leadership at the University of Texas and a Nobel Fellow, will talk about how American foreign policy has changed in the 10 years since 9/11. He will draw extensively from his new book, Liberty’s Surest Guardian, a historical look at American ideals and policies and what they have to offer failed states around the globe. The location for Suri’s talk will be announced shortly.
The Helen P. Denit Honors Program is sponsoring this series as part of a larger effort to have a campus-wide conversation on the impact that 9/11 has had on American society. The theme “Ten Years Later: The World 9/11 Made” will be explored by all of UBalt’s honors course this fall. Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower has been adopted as common reading material for all Denit classes.
In particular, the Denit honors course, “9/11: Ten Years Later,” will address how the attacks changed Americans as individuals and the United States as a nation; why the attacks occurred and what al-Qaida hoped to accomplish; how the attacks were represented journalistically, both that day and since; how the broader culture responded (films, books, music, etc) and how religion and clergy responded. Arthur Magida, UBalt writer in residence and author of the critically acclaimed Opening the Doors of Wonder; Prophet of Rage: A Life of Louis Farrakhan and His Nation; the forthcoming The Nazi Séance: The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler’s Inner Circle and several others, will lead the course. Required readings will include The 9/11 Commission Report.
Further details about many of these events will be announced shortly.