Sep. 8, 2023 By Carlotta Mohamed
In commemoration of the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Queens College will host a ceremony honoring 40 college alumni, faculty and other community members who lost their lives that day.
The event will take place at Cooperman Plaza, located at the main entrance to the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library. The school community will also remember those who perished on that date in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
The bells in the Chaney-Goodman-Schwerner Clocktower of the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library will toll four times that morning:
- At 8:46 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center
- At 9:03 a.m., when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center
- At 9:59 a.m., when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed
- At 10:28 a.m., when the north tower of the World Trade Center collapsed
The ceremony will conclude with Enzo Cetti, an Aaron Copland School of Music student, performing “Taps” on the trumpet.
The event will be hosted by Queens College President Frank Wu, with invited guest speakers Senator John Liu; Henry Yam, chief of staff for Councilman James Gennaro; and Queens College Student Association President William Barron. Opening and closing prayers will be offered by Father José Diaz and Rabbi Sara Zacharia, respectively.
Among the alumni lost on Sept. 11 was Mohammed Salman Hamdani, an NYC-certified EMT who died in the towers’ collapse. He had rushed downtown to help while on his morning commute to Rockefeller University, where he worked as a research technician.
There are two Sept. 11 commemorative plaques on campus. Both are located near the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, with one marking a memorial garden planted by students from nearby Public School 499 and the Queens College School for Math, Science, and Technology. An annual campus ceremony has marked the attacks since 2002.
Click here for a full list of victims’ names.