Click image to view a slideshow of Boston College’s September 11 commemorations.

On the Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001, a rare quiet pervaded the campus, but not a stillness. As dreadful images aired on television screens in the dining halls and elsewhere, meetings in the President’s office yielded key decisions: Classes would continue, as a way of providing students with small-group settings in which to discuss the events. A prayer service would be held on O’Neill Plaza at noon and a Mass said in the early evening in Conte Forum (attended by 4,000). A phone bank was staffed in Gasson Hall to assist students from affected areas. Boston College lost 22 alumni that day and three parents of current students, as well as 43 relatives of members of its community. This past September, the 10th anniversary of 9/11 was marked with similar purpose by the University—with lectures and prayers and testaments to lives lived.