Fifteen years ago, the Syracuse University community experienced one of its greatest tragedies.

During a flight back from London, a terrorist bomb exploded aboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Two hundred fifty-nine people were killed, including 35 students in Syracuse University’s Department of International Programs Abroad program.

In order to remember and honor the students who died, SU established Remembrance Week. Every year, 35 students are honored with a Remembrance Scholar Award.

A ceremony today at 4 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel will commemorate the 14th Annual Convocation for Remembrance Scholars and Lockerbie Scholars.

The Lockerbie Scholars are two students from Lockerbie who are sent to SU each year to keep the connection between SU and Lockerbie alive. Jamie Graham and Erin M. McLaughlin are this year’s Lockerbie Scholars.

‘The convocation is a celebration of the remembrance scholars,’ said Mary Jane Nathan, the director of special events at SU. ‘It is made to pay tribute to 35 students by virtue of accomplishments by the seniors.’

This year’s convocation will be a bit different, as Graham Herbert, rector of Lockerbie Academy, will also be honored with a Chancellor’s Medal for Exceptional Achievement for his effort to maintain a bond between Syracuse University and Lockerbie Academy.

This honor is extremely rare, Nathan said.

The convocation’s events will include a speech by one of the scholars and then another by Herbert. Finally, Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw will recognize all the scholars.

The scholars are responsible for the scheduling of this week’s remembrance events.

This year’s group focused on making the week visual. In most buildings, there is a poster of one of the students who died in the crash. In the Schine Student Center, there is a gallery of pictures of all the students who died in the crash, and the Quad has ribbons tied around trees with each victim’s name. The group has also scheduled service projects, activities that include community service.

‘We wanted to reach out to the community,’ said Assad Rajani, a senior English and textual studies, history, religion and political science major and coordinator of all service projects. ‘Talking about Remembrance Week is important, but we wanted to back up and show the community we cared too.’

As Remembrance Week has matured, volunteering has become more and more of a part of the week.

‘Volunteering has become an important part of life at SU,’ said Judy O’Rourke, the vice president of undergraduate studies. ‘Any activity that promotes volunteering is a good one.’

Remembrance Week was established for many different reasons, not only service to the community.

‘First, we should simply remember the 35 students,’ O’Rourke said. ‘There is also an educational component. This is a time to think about issues that are so easy to forget, a time to step back and remember.’

O’Rourke added that Remembrance Week helps to comfort anyone who was at the university in 1988 when the tragedy occurred.

‘The event gets less personal because we don’t remember people individually,’ O’Rourke said. ‘Unfortunately, we have had reminders of terrorism since then. There is a bond between all of us and all victims of terrorism.’

O’Rourke believes strongly in Remembrance Week’s mission.

‘It is important to remember those who have come before us. We need to reach out and try to understand each other,’ she said. ‘It is our duty to promote understanding of one another.’

Published on November 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm