Letter from President Leo M. Lambert

Dear Elon Community,

The tragic events of the past week shook Elon University. A stadium-opening rally Tuesday morning turned into a time for prayer and to absorb the vast enormity of the news. Celebratory activities surrounding the opening of the stadium were cancelled. When there was to be a laser light show, hundreds of candles were lit instead. Instead of cheering, praying. Instead of the fight song, hymns.

At Elon, a week that was to be one of the most joyous in our history turned into an emotional roller coaster. The father of student Jason Boone is missing in the Pentagon blast. Other students panicked until they learned loved ones were safe. Faces everywhere were somber, and tears were in abundance.

The Elon spirit was strong and vibrant this week. But it showed itself in a form we did not anticipate.

We came together as an entire community in prayer four times, and crowds of hundreds supported and held each other each time. Elon's founders would be proud at the bedrock of faith that undergirds us still.

Our dearest citizens, people like Earl Danieley, Richard McBride, and John Sullivan, reached down deep to find the eloquence to comfort us and to help us seek understanding. They reminded us that love will always conquer hate, that we should avoid the temptation for hasty vengeance, and that acts of hate and terror carried out in the name of God do not have God's blessing.

Many of our faculty and staff seized the ultimate "teachable moment." This was an opportunity for students and faculty to grapple with the most basic questions -- about the very nature of our humanity, about the goodness and evil present in each one of us, and about events that turn the course of history.

We learned the flame of patriotism at Elon burns brightly, and pray that its light will only illuminate our paths -- Christian, Moslem, and Jew -- black, white, and brown -- and never cast shadows of suspicion.

I had thought for weeks I would be bursting with pride about Elon at the close of this weekend. I am, but for reasons I could never have foreseen.

Leo M. Lambert
President


Saturday, September 15, 2001