25 Years Later, SUNY Oneonta Remembers 9/11

Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, two towers still rise from the SUNY Oneonta campus.

The 12-foot concrete sculpture, located between Fitzelle Hall and the Fine Arts Building, has stood for nearly a quarter-century as a memorial to all those who died that day and, especially, seven SUNY Oneonta alumni who were among the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks.

Each September, students, employees and members of the greater Oneonta community gather there for SUNY Oneonta’s annual 9/11 Memorial Ceremony.

This year, as the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks, most students gathered around the memorial weren't yet born on Sept. 11, 2001. For those who remember it, however, the day remains vivid.

Red Dragons Remembered

SUNY Oneonta lost seven alumni on Sept. 11, 2001: Martin Lizzul ’91, Lynne Irene Morris ’00, Michael J. Mullin ’96, Jeffrey R. Nussbaum ’86, Kevin Owen Reilly ’95, Brian J. Terrenzi ’95 and Glenn J. Winuk ’83.

Their names continue to be read aloud during the university’s annual ceremony, each followed by the tolling of a bell. This year, the ceremony also featured alumni Greg Floyd '80 and Scott Saltzman '86, musical performances by the World Chorus, and the laying of roses by recipients of the 9/11 Memorial Scholarship.

A Memorial Built to Last

Created by Otego artist Charles Bremer, SUNY Oneonta’s 9/11 memorial was completed in time for the first anniversary of the attacks. His design depicts the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in 25 tons of cast concrete.

Rather than depicting flames at the points where the planes struck, Bremer chose flowers—a sunflower on the South Tower and a rose on the North Tower.

Bremer intentionally designed the memorial so the artwork would not dominate the space, allowing people to bring their own emotions and find their own meaning. He also saw the two towers as an allegory for one person standing beside another—a simple representation of how people care for one another.

More than two decades later, Bremer said he is honored that the memorial has become a place where people continue to gather, reflect and talk.

Carrying the Memory

The first ceremony at the completed memorial was held in September 2002. Among the students chosen to speak was Rebecca J. Satkin, a first-year student from New York City who had experienced Sept. 11 firsthand.

Satkin had been a high school senior on Sept. 11, 2001. By the end of that day, she had made her way across Manhattan on foot, stopping at payphones as she tried to reach her mother.

One year later, standing before a crowd in Oneonta, she remembers struggling to collect herself before speaking—and seeing not the faces in the crowd, but the candles they held.

“I had to take a few moments to get control of some tears,” Satkin recalled. “I remember feeling so far away from home. … There was a deafening silence. I couldn't even hear myself speak. The part I remember the most, though, is being there and so far away from home, yet when I started to speak I felt like I was instantly transported back to that day, a year before.”

For Satkin, remembrance goes beyond ceremonies and monuments.

“I think it’s important to remember and to have monuments for those moments,” she said. “However, I think it’s more important to carry yourself in memory of those people.”

What she hopes people can understand 25 years later is something she remembers from Sept. 12, 2001, when she walked through Manhattan with her mother.

“The streets were empty and yet so alive,” she said. “A simple nod meant, ‘I’m so happy you’re still here…I’ve spent the last 25 years hoping my fellow humans can remember what September 12th, 2001 felt like. To live life with that much appreciation of the smallest things around you.”

View more photos from the ceremony

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