UPDATED: Nov. 2, 2018 at 10:51 a.m.

The 8 p.m. Carrier Dome basketball game against Western Michigan was just starting as news trickled in that 35 Syracuse University students had been aboard Pan Am Flight 103 when it was bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland.

“Your sons and daughters will be remembered at Syracuse University … for as long as the university shall stand,” then-Chancellor Melvin Eggers promised family members at a service held after winter break in 1989.

Since then, more than 1,000 Remembrance Scholars have acted in those victims’ memory, nearly 60 students have come to Syracuse from Lockerbie on a one-year scholarship and thousands of artifacts related to the tragedy have been collected in SU’s archives.

Thirty years after the tragedy, every Syracuse University student must spend more time acting forward to uphold Egger’s institutional promise in ways that will impact them not only during Remembrance Week.

One way to do that is by visiting the archives on the sixth floor of Bird Library. I approached the archives and found it deeply moving to look at artifacts curated from the students’ lives. Containing personal notes and pictures, the archives humanize the names we walk past on the Wall of Remembrance. Students can visit the archives throughout the year.

Corey Henry| Staff Photographer

Acting forward isn’t contained to a research room, though.

“Acting forward is trying to make sure that I am doing the best I can do to live the life that everyone on the plane lost,” said Andrew Dorrance, a 2017-18 Lockerbie Scholar.

That could be through volunteering, taking time to write a story you’ve been putting off or even just calling your loved ones to express gratitude for them.

“The week is a reminder to not take life for granted,” said Cole Massie, a current Remembrance Scholar representing Frederick “Sandy” Phillips. “Do something you’re passionate about.”

This week also celebrates connections. In the aftermath of the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy, thousands of people have been connected to one another.

“One of the good things about the disaster was that people came together,” Dorrance said. “Lockerbie and Syracuse came together.”

Living on what can be a divided campus, and in a divided world, we can all act forward in honor of those lost by reaching out to different people on campus.

“I am trying to be more of the person people can look to on a bad day” said Ankita Varman, another current Remembrance Scholar, representing Eric Coker.

Act forward this week, and in the weeks to come. When 35 students lost their lives 30 years ago, SU promised that we would never forget their legacy and we would work to continue it.

It’s the responsibility of every student at SU to maintain that promise.

Patrick Linehan is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism, policy studies and economics major. His column runs biweekly. He can be contacted at pjlineha@syr.edu.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Eric Coker was misnamed. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

Published on October 30, 2018 at 9:20 pm