As Americans unite in solace on this day of national mourning, Princeton and Princetonians, like the nation that continues to search anxiously for relatives and friends, continue their search for members of the University community.
Alumni and the University are reaching out across the loyal networks of Princetonians to contact members of the community who were possibly in New York or Washington on Tuesday.
"It's striking how much Princetonians care about each other and how quickly Princetonians will band together," associate director of the Alumni Council Adrienne Rubin said, "We show our colors every time there is any tragedy."
Several efforts have been made on both an official basis and on a personal level to contact Princetonians.
Scott Rafferty '76 has used TigerNet, the online alumni network, to compile a running list of alumni who worked in either the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. He has sent the list to Princeton-Matters, an extensive e-mail discussion group composed of Princeton alumni and students.
"Tigernet makes it very easy to locate [alumni who may have worked in the World Trade Center or Pentagon] because of the ability to search [by] zip codes," Rafferty said. "It is really unique; no other [university] directory really compares."
The World Trade Center and the Pentagon both have their own zip codes, allowing Rafferty to easily search business addresses of alumni.
Rafferty said at this point he believes 104 Princetonians worked in the World Trade Center, all of whom he has e-mailed or called to locate. Currently, Rafferty reported that 47 are safe, 54 he does not have information about, and 3 are missing.
However, Rafferty said there is good reason to believe that the number who are safe is significantly higher because of old addresses or e-mail links.
The Alumni Council asked class agents Wednesday night not to disseminate information about possible victims out of concern for the privacy of families and for the accuracy of information.
Individuals are welcome to conduct their own searches on a personal basis, Rubin said referring to Rafferty's e-mail list.
Though Rafferty slowed his search Wednesday, he said he plans to continue because of the support and grateful responses he has received.
"I've received so many requests about individual people to continue searching," he said. "Each of the people that I contacted wanted their safety to be confirmed to the list.""This information should get out," Rafferty said.
In addition, the University has made several efforts to locate information about alumni.
"As we get info about Princeton alumni who may be missing or may have died we are sharing that information with each other," Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel said.
President Tilghman requested that everyone in her cabinet forward information about Princetonians to the office of the Secretary, but the University has decided not to release the information until an appropriate time and once the information "has been verified and will not interfere with family requests for privacy," University spokesperson Marilyn Marks said.
The Wilson School sent out two e-mails to approximately 3,000 alumni and has recieved many comments and remarkable accounts from alumni, Wilson School Assistant Dean for External Affairs Delia Pitts said.
Alumni of the Wilson School have also used the School's website as a homebase for information about the events and comments from the Princeton faculty, Pitts said.
The Alumni Records office is gathering information with the proper verification necessary, Rubin said, after which class agents will be asked to contact the families about making the information public.
"We must honor the privacy of families," Rubin said of the initial searches for Princetonians.
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