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The September 11 Memorial is made out of metal from the remains of the World Trade Center and will be finished in time for a ceremony on October 14 that will honor the victims of the attack, in particular the four Clarkson Alumni who perished.

September 11 Memorial Remembers Clarkson Alumni

By: Matthew Lee

Posted: 9/26/05

For those who have not noticed, Clarkson University has been working on a memorial on Cheel lawn for some time now. This memorial is made of steel salvaged from the collapsed twin towers. The memorial will honor all victims of the 9/11 tragedy, but more specifically the four alumni of Clarkson that were taken on that day.

Steve Newkofsky, Assistant Vice President of Alumni relations, told The Integrator during a telephone interview that production for the memorial began a month before classes started. Newkofsky also went on to tell us that the deadline for the project will be on October 14, on which there will be an unveiling. The memorial is almost completely made up of metal from the twin towers themselves. While construction of the girder section itself is finished, many students have noticed that construction workers have been on the lawn almost every day to meet their deadline of the fourteenth. Progress has been proceeding as planned.

The purpose of the memorial is to remember the four alumni of the university who passed during the attacks. The memorial is dedicated to Peter A Klein, Paul R. Hughes, Richard J. O'Connor, and R. Mark Rasweiler. The families of these victims will be the guests of honor at the unveiling ceremony on October 14, if they choose to attend.

The unveiling ceremony is officially set for October the fourteenth after the Hockey game ends. Many of the University's administration will attend. The Ceremony will have speeches from multiple administrators, two of these administrators being the President of the University, Mr. Collins, and the President of the Alumni council as well. During the President's speech, the four names of the Alumni will be announced. As they are announced, a light from each of the four points of recess around the memorial will be turned on. These four lights will be turned on each night in remembrance of those four. The families of the four have been invited to the ceremony and will be the guests of honor, should they choose to attend. The Army and Air Force ROTC units will be attending as well, along with their color guard.

Clarkson University has Mike Bielowa to thank for the steel that was included in the memorial. Mike Bielowa is also an alumni of Clarkson who graduated with the class of nineteen eighty-five. Bielowa received the metal in exchange for signing an agreement with the government that stated the metal would be used for memorial purposes only.