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Students gather to remember Sept. 11 victims BY CATHERINE M. WALDROP THE GAMECOCK A remembrance ceremony was held Thursday night to honor the lives lost from the devastating Sept. 11,2001, attacks. A small group of students gath ered at Davis Field to partake in the ceremony. The remembrance was led by Jeremy Wolfe, a third-year Russian and math student. Wolfe is a representative for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which provided fund ing for the remembrance event. The foundation is a nonparti san, nonprofit organization which was formed after Sept. 11. The foundation is dedicated to educat ing Americans about the threat of terrorism to democracies worldwide. Such distinguished speakers as Jay W. Ragley, the political direc tor for the S.C. Republican Party, Chief John Jansen of the Columbia Fire Department, and Sheima Salam, former president of the Muslim Students Association, attended the event to give tribute to the Americans lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and also to ex press their thoughts and hopes for America’s future. Ragley spoke about his goal to get others interested in govern ment. “College students have the ability to make a difference,” SURF YOURSELF Read more about the Foundation for Defense of Democracies at www.defenddemocracy.org he said. He emphasized the importance of making each day count because for those people that died in the World Trade Center, that day be gan as an average day. Chief Jansen, a native of New York City, talked about strong roots in the city and about being a 12th generation New Yorker. He spoke about the unity of the firefighters within the New York community and how some of the firefighters who rushed to save people from the towers were not even oh duty. Salam a honors graduate from USC, spoke about her Muslim faith. She is a born-and-raised American from an Afghan Lebanese background. “The concept of the jihad is mis represented by terrorists,” she said. Students attending the event signed a large banner commemo rating Sept.11. The banner will take a tour of all the residence halls, where students are welcome to sign it. The banner will then be sent to its permanent home in New York City at the Ground Zero memorial. Students at the event such as Callie Van Koughnett and Meghan Mueller, both first-year marine science students, said they were disappointed by the small crowd. Van Koughnett volunteered on the design work of the fliers and banner. The event closed with “God Bless America” and the “National Anthem.” Some of the students in the crowd cried as they sang the national anthem with one hand Over their Hearts. A candlelit mo ment of silence was held towards the end of the event. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.cqm Remembrance CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The two years since the attack seemed to disappear as speakers surrendered to their emotions. “My daddy, Gerard Rod Coppola,” said Angela Coppola, 20, her voice cracking. “Your light still shines.” Brannon Burke, 13, and her 10-year-old sister Kyleen wore matching blue Engine Co. 21 sweatshirts with buttons bear ing the face of fire Capt. William Burke Jr. - their beloved Uncle Billy, a second-generation fire fighter. “It’s heartbreaking and it’s heartwarming when you hear them say, ‘My father, my moth er, my aunt,”’ said Betsy Parks of Bayonne, N.J., whose brother Robert was killed. “What’s amaz ing is the strength and re silience.” Some family members used their hands to scoop up dirt from the site as a keepsake, slip ping it into bags and empty wa ter bottles. For many, it may provide the only link to their lost relatives; authorities esti mate the remains of as many as 1,000 victims may never be iden tified. The crowd of thousands ob served a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane slammed into the north tower. At sunset, two light beams pointing skyward were switched on, evoking the image of the twin towers. Law School CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Charleston School of Law would be immune to state budget cuts, which could mean higher salaries for faculty members. Instead, the school will rely heavily on tuition dollars, and Gershon said the school hasn’t had a problem at tracting potential students. “We’re going to offer what we think is a really competitive price to get the best faculty,” Gershon said. “In any law school, the high est percentage of the budget is go ing to go to the faculty.” According to Gershon, the Charleston law school will have an overall budget of about $10 million. Texas Wesleyan law school, also a private institution, is a lit tie larger than the Charleston school will be. It has a $4.3 million operating budget and an overall budget of $11 million. Eli Poliakoff, a third-year law student and editor of the USC Law Review, said he isn’t worried" about the new school’s opening. “We wish them luck in Charleston,” Poliakoff said, but added that USC law students are concentrating on what’s happen ing in Columbia. “People are optimistic at our law school and are excited about what’s happening here,” he said. Gershon said the Charleston law school will benefit both insti tutions by opening up the possi bility of cooperative work. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail. com Power CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 As with any power outage, a great deal of safety concerns arise. “Certainly, one of the biggest concerns would be students get ting stuck in elevators,” said Gene Luna, director of Housing Services at USC. He also expressed concern about disabled students who can’t get in and out of buildings if they can’t go up or down floors as well as students who need to refriger ate their medications and can’t do so during a power failure. Luna said his department has a comprehensive plan for how to react in the case of a power fail ure. “When the power goes out, the first thing we do is make sure that generators and fire alarms are functioning, and then we assess what communication equipment we still have available to us,” he said. “We then use whatever com munication equipment is still available to alert live-in staff and RAs to the details of the incident so they can help the students in any way possible.” Luna also said that during any power outage, security is a major concern, and so they bring in ad ditional security. The thing that seemed to bother students the most about the out age was that it interfered with their preparations for the Gamecocks’ football game against UVA. “It really sucked because the football game was at 12:30 p.m., and since the power was out, and so my alarm didn’t go off, and I al most missed the game,” said first year journalism student Zach Johnston, who lives in Bates House residence hall. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotma il. com Vera Bradley Trunk Show Wednesday 17th 11 AM - 7pm at South Tower ] A vbwbradley; Just *jlj» fauUUL iEinoam. 3 IV»ijt**as* PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT Please join the USC Young Democrats in welcoming Senator John Edwards as he returns to South Carolina on the day of his official Presidential Announcement. Tuesday September 16 4 PM Outside Russell House Free Refreshments Live Music by Hat Trick For more information, please call the SC Campaign Headquarters at 803-255-8556. .-...-.....—. .... ■ Paid for by Edwards for President, Inc. Contributions to Edwards for President, Inc. are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. g_ _I__ 4'