When students, faculty and administrators woke up yesterday and remembered the emotions and horrors of Tuesday's events in New York and Washington, many hoped it had just been a nightmare. But televisions in the Frist Campus Center and sold-out newspaper stands along Nassau Street proved it all to be a grim reality.
Even two days after Tuesday's terrorist attacks, people on campus are still waiting for information on the thousands of missing and new reports of other terrorist plots throughout the region.
"We still don't know how many members of the university community were involved in this," said Vice President and Secretary Thomas Wright '62.
Princeton University, however, is not bending in the wake of these terrorist attacks. Classes will begin today and all University functions are scheduled to proceed normally.
"[W]e are determined to adhere to our regular schedule to demonstrate that terrorism does not have the power to disrupt the fundamental educational mission of this university," said Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel in a campus-wide e-mail sent yesterday.
The University's decision not to alter plans over the past few days comes as other organizations call for a moment to reflect and put work on hold. Major League Baseball has cancelled games for two consecutive days for the first time in more than 50 years.
Like Princeton's leaders, administrators at other universities chose to open today and continue normal class schedules.
"Some members of the community have questioned [Cornell University's] decision to continue to hold classes in the wake of [Tuesday's] events," Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings GS '70 said in a statement today. "We do so not from a simplistic determination to maintain business as usual, but rather to provide the widest possible opportunity for the members of this academic community to come together and reflect on the meaning of what has happened."
Despite Princeton's resolve not to change schedules, things are different on and around campus. The University will maintain 24-hour counseling, informational and travel services in the Frist Campus Center.
"I think we really saw how important Frist is," Wright said. "It's an important place for us to get together."
Princeton Medical Center will continue blood drives today that were expected to harvest more than 160 pints of blood — nearly 500 percent more than usual — since Wednesday morning.
"The response has been amazing," said Carol Norris, PMC director of public relations. "We're asking students to make appointments to give blood over the next few days or even the next week as the need for blood will only increase."
"The University is planning a memorial service for those who were involved in [Tuesday's disaster]," Wright said.
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