First Day of Classes for Fall Quarter Coincides with Commemoration of Tragic Events

DePaul University will join the rest of the nation in remembering the victims on the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by presenting four ceremonies of remembrance on its campuses.

Ceremonies will be held Sept. 11 at noon on the university’s Loop (DePaul Center Plaza, 1 E. Jackson Blvd.) and Lincoln Park Campuses (on the Quad, on Fullerton just west of Sheffield Avenue) in Chicago. A ceremony also will be held later that day, at 5:15 p.m. at the DePaul Center Plaza, for students attending evening classes. Barat College of DePaul, 700 E. Westleigh Road, Lake Forest, Ill., will hold a candlelight processional in Merrill Courtyard on the evening of Sept. 10, a memorial service will be held at noon on Sept. 11 at the Barat Chapel, and a Mass will be offered at 4:30 p.m. at that location. The public is welcome to attend these events.

On all campuses, faculty, staff and students may put a private prayer, blessing, intention, hope or promise into remembrance baskets. These baskets will be available until the evening of Sept. 13 for those unable to attend a service. The baskets will be set up near the information desk on the 11th Floor of the DePaul Center; on the first floor of the Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave.; outside the Barat Chapel; and in the reception areas of all suburban campuses.

“We pray for world leaders who seek solutions to terrorism and support their efforts to bring peace, understanding, tolerance and compassion to the diverse peoples who share the earth,” said the Rev. John P. Minogue, C.M., DePaul president. “We dedicate ourselves individually to doing our small part here at home, in our neighborhoods, our communities and on our campuses to become educated about the many cultures that make up our melting pot and to learn to cherish – not fear – our differences.”

Sept. 11, 2002, will be the first full day of classes for the fall quarter at DePaul University. The university’s academic calendar was set more than one year ago, and the fall quarter traditionally begins ten weeks prior to Thanksgiving week.

DePaul University is the largest Catholic university in the nation and the ninth-largest private university in the United States. A richly diverse population of 21,363 students attends classes on two city and six suburban campuses.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: Rain location for the Loop Campus ceremony will be on the concourse level of the Music Mart inside DePaul Center, 1. E. Jackson Blvd. Rain location for the Lincoln Park Campus ceremony will be Room 120 of the DePaul Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave.)