Flags on Bascom Hill honor 9/11 victims (with photos)

Todd Finkelmeyer  —  9/11/2008 12:34 pm

On the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, several student organizations at UW-Madison joined Thursday as part of an effort to honor and remember the victims.

"So many people forget what happened and forget the meaning of what happened, and we're just trying to help people remember and memorialize those victims," said Sara Mikolajczak, chairwoman of the University of Wisconsin College Republicans, the lead group in organizing the 9/11 event on campus.

Starting at 6:30 a.m., volunteers placed 2,977 small American flags -- one for each victim -- on the lower portion of Bascom Hill.

Students who lost family members or friends in the attacks were invited to set up personal memorials in their honor.

At 7 p.m., a brief memorial service, which is open to the public, will be held in room 6210 of Social Science, which is located at 1180 Observatory Drive.

The nondenominational service will be followed with a candlelight vigil at approximately 7:45 p.m. on Bascom Hill around the memorial, after which the flags will be taken down.

"It's a nonpartisan event that gives us a chance to all pause and remember those who lost their lives on Sept. 11 without turning it into something political," said Claire Rydell, chairwoman of the College Democrats of Madison.

The event is being hosted by the UW College Republicans, in partnership with the College Democrats of Madison, the Associated Students of Madison, the Federalist Society, the Muslim Student Association, Army ROTC, and the Badger Herald.

Nationally, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain were to appear together at ground zero in New York on the seventh anniversary of the attacks.

Obama and McCain, the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, previously said both campaigns would halt television advertising critical of each other on Sept. 11.

In 2004, President Bush and Sen. John Kerry did not attend the anniversary observance at the trade center site.

"We're absolutely keeping it a non-political event," Mikolajczak said of Thursday's UW-Madison event. "It's really not an event that needs to be politicized. This is something that all Americans and everyone in the world should be able to come together and remember -- if only for one day to forget religious and political and other identifications."

Todd Finkelmeyer  —  9/11/2008 12:34 pm