STATEMENT BY PENN STATE PRESIDENT GRAHAM SPANIER
All of us in the Penn State community are horrified and terribly saddened by the unfolding events experienced by all Americans today. We must collectively stand together and do our utmost to provide mutual support and comfort during this time of national emergency.
Penn State is a complex, multi-campus university. We are therefore asking the executive officers on each of our campuses to determine what actions are most appropriate for their campuses. The following steps will be taken at the University Park campus:
We request that faculty members meet their classes as scheduled and use their classroom time as a principal source of comfort for our students, most of whom will be in need of support and understanding. We are asking our faculty to take the lead role in providing this needed support for our students.
University classes will meet at their regular times and places on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, but normal educational activities may be suspended, at the discretion of the faculty member, to allow students to reflect on today's events and for instructors to provide their support to students and to help them deal with this challenge to our open and free society. Instructors at all campuses are asked to use their best judgment as to how to achieve this objective.
All staff in student affairs have been mobilized to provide counseling and support services for our students. For students in the residence halls, resident assistants will be available as a first line of support in their residential settings. Staff from the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services and other student affairs units will be offering special therapy support in the Robeson Center Library and the Kern Building through the evening. Clergy will be available in the Eisenhower Chapel.
University police services are in touch with all relevant law enforcement agencies and will inform the university president if there is any reason to believe there are public safety issues that would affect Penn State. Appropriate action and notification will take place immediately if there are any credible threats to Penn State students, staff, or visitors. Meanwhile, we request that all students, faculty, and staff be vigilant and report all safety-related concerns to University Police at (814) 863-1111.
Penn State has faculty and students throughout the country and the world. Relevant administrators responsible for international programs, internships, and travel will be seeking to communicate with those who are at such off-campus locations. Families will be informed of information we receive and appropriate actions will be taken to promote the safety and security of all Penn Staters.
Scheduled extra-curricular campus events will be carried on or canceled at the discretion of those sponsoring such events. There will be a prayer vigil at 6:30pm tonight in the HUB Ballroom, sponsored by campus clergy and the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs.
The University Park Airport is closed.
The Office of Public Information will endeavor to keep the University community updated through the University newswire and through announcements linked to the Penn State home page at http://www.psu.edu/. To view this statement – sent to more than 120,000 Penn State e-mail accounts for all students, faculty, and staff – as well as the latest news from Penn State, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/flash.
PENN STATE REACTS TO A NATION’S TRAGEDY
The University has put in place several programs and services to help students, faculty, and staff cope with the tragedies that took place around the country today. A number of faculty report they are using their classes today to let students discuss the terrorist attacks and their feelings and concerns.
The Center for Academic Computing was able to deliver approximately 126,000 e-mails within a period of three hours today. This enormous undertaking conveyed a message about today’s tragic events – including some of the following information – to University students, faculty, and staff at all 24 Penn State locations.
The HUB-Robeson Cultural Center, Kern Building and residence hall commons will be open 24 hours on the University Park campus so that students may gather for information and support. Staff from the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services and clergy will be available to offer therapy at the HUB, Kern, and the Eisenhower chapel today.
A prayer vigil has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. tonight in the HUB Ballroom. The event is sponsored by campus clergy and the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs. Across the state, in various forums, Penn State campuses planned to convene faculty, staff and students in common areas for a moment of silence to honor those hurt or killed by terrorist activity.
Students who are interning in Washington and New York City are being tracked down by faculty to make sure they are safe. One group of students at a conference in Manhattan e-mailed President Spanier to let them know their group is safe in their hotel. Another Penn State student interning in Washington called on her cell phone from the White House to report she is okay.
President Spanier has also indicated that the University will continue to track any news about alumni and friends of the University who may be connected in some way to these attacks over the next several weeks.
The University reported that it had addressed issues of student security noting that University police services are in touch with the relevant law enforcement agencies.
At University Park, the women's volleyball game scheduled for this evening has been canceled. Scheduled extra-curricular campus events will be carried on or canceled at the discretion of those sponsoring such events.
Penn State is also loaning part of our computing capability to Columbia University, which will restore and supplement local and long-distance emergency telephone communications to and from the Manhattan-based institution. Penn State will cover the cost associated with providing this aid to Columbia.
Keep watching the University home page – http://www.psu.edu – over the next several days for the latest updates on how this tragedy is touching Penn State.
PENN STATERS FLOOD ON-CAMPUS BLOOD DRIVE SITES
Since it was the first blood drive of the fall semester on Penn State’s University Park campus, the American Red Cross had lowered its usual collection goal for the day to just 120 units before an overflow of concern from the community surrounding Tuesday’s (September 11) multiple crises swamped its facilities in the HUB-Robeson Center with new and returning donors.
Throughout much of the late morning and afternoon, while 10 tables in the Alumni Hall were filled with donors actually giving their blood as the crises unfolded on CNN on a large screen nearby, more than 100 soon-to-be donors filled out paperwork at chairs and nearly twice that many lined up outside the hall just to get an application.
“The outpouring of support has been tremendous,” said Wendi Keeler, American Red Cross’ donor resources field representative for central Pennsylvania. “We’ve been turning away hundreds and hundreds of donors,” she said, but added that those who couldn’t be accommodated on Tuesday can go to an ROTC blood drive at Wagner Building on September 12, an emergency drive by appointment from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at White Building on September 13, at the American Red Cross’ Centre Communities Chapter office at 121 1/2 E. Beaver Ave., State College, on September 18, or at the regularly scheduled September 17 and 19 drives at HUB-Robeson.
Persons interested in becoming blood donors at University Park or in State College can call (814) 237-2713 for more information. The American Red Cross also has information available on its national efforts at (800) 448-3543.
According to Kendra Gettig, president of the Penn State student chapter of the American Red Cross (see http://www.clubs.psu.edu/redcross/ for details) the blood donated on campus may not necessarily leave the area because of a shortage locally, although donations here have been used in the New York and metro D.C. regions in the past.
“I’ve been thinking about donating for awhile, and what happened today got me to do it,” said Geary Kochersperger, a first-year architectural engineering student from State College. “It’s the least I can do.”
Geoffrey Urda, a junior in communications from Binghamton, N.Y., added, “I realized that over the summer I could have been (at the World Trade Center). I got into the HUB and saw this (blood drive) and thought, ‘I have blood, I’ve got to do it.’”
“I was watching this disaster on TV and felt useless, and thought if I’m going to be watching TV all day anyway, I might as well give blood,” said Lori Ginzberg, associate professor of history and women’s studies.
As of early afternoon, the Penn State Hershey Medical Center Blood Bank reports an unusually high number of people calling about donating blood or walking in to donate blood. The staff is doing everything possible to accommodate the contributions.
The medical center is a Level I trauma center and is on stand-by to assist if requested. LifeLion medical helicopters were grounded this morning when the nation's air traffic was shutdown, but quickly regained permission to be in the air again.
For photos from today’s blood drive in the HUB on the University Park campus, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/flash/photos.html.
PENN STATE-VIRGINIA FOOTBALL GAME POSTPONED
The Penn State-Virginia football game has been postponed in the wake of today's tragic events in the United States. The contest was scheduled to be played Thursday, Sept. 13 in Charlottesville, Va.
Penn State and Virginia officials have been in contact throughout today and will continue discussions on the possibility of re-scheduling the game at a later date. A decision on whether the game can be re-scheduled is expected within the next 24 hours.
PHOTOS – A CAMPUS REACTS
Penn State’s Office of Public Information has compiled a photo page depicting scenes on campus as students, faculty, and staff react to today’s events. To view the photos, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/flash/photos.html.