Uris Library and Jennie McGraw Tower at Cornell University.
ClubFest, Cornell’s annual celebration of the thousands of student organizations at this university, will take place on the Arts Quad in the early afternoon of Sunday, September 11th, 2022. Apparently, the university’s administration has forgotten another important event that should transpire that day.
Amidst Cornell’s annual recognition of the horrors of that day—the 2,977 people who died, including 21 Cornellians—will be dozens of tables, hundreds of club officers, and hoards of students more interested in celebration than commemoration. While the university pays its respects on one half of the Arts Quad, festivities decorate the other. Solemnity and celebration, simultaneously scheduled to duel for the attention of a confused campus audience.
After 21 years of saying “we will never forget,” the powers that be cannot be troubled to reschedule the most trivial of events for the sake of honoring the dead. The horrors of that day should be no less present in our minds on the twenty-first anniversary. No matter if the eldest undergraduate was alive then, 9/11 is a national day of mourning. Any day could be home to ClubFest, this one should be sacred.
Beyond the sacrilege of celebrating on a day of remorse– consider the potential spectacle. Last year, Cornell hosted a pole-dancing performance during ClubFest. Are we to sit silently and accept scantily-clad figures swinging from poles several yards away from an active memorial?
Little unites this country, and especially this campus. September 11th is a powerful reminder that we are all Americans. To paper over the tradition of unanimous sorrowful recognition in favor of a celebration is, in the words of several student leaders on campus, “unbelievably tone-deaf.”
In previous years, the Cornell Republicans and Cornell Democrats put aside their differences on September 11th to host a joint fundraiser for the Veterans of Foreign Wars foundation. Now, both groups are forced to conduct recruitment for their definitionally opposed organizations on a historic day of armistice. And many clubs rely on Fall ClubFest to get new members and reinvigorate their organizations after the departure of a large senior class—including this very publication. The necessity of a good showing at ClubFest will drive many to show up and participate despite the solemnity we should all respect.
It should be second-nature to show respect for the dead on a national day of mourning. Cornell’s decision to schedule this—inherently celebratory—event on 9/11 displays a disregard for what happened two decades ago. We cannot commemorate our devotion to the fallen while inviting bands and pole dancers to joyously perform on the Arts Quad. I believe we have begun to forget.
