On a day most students use to sleep in, about 20 students were on the Plaza of the Americas early Monday morning arranging this year’s memorial honoring the vicims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Members of UF’s chapters of Americans for Prosperity, Network of enlightened Women and College Republicans arranged almost 3,000 flags for the memorial in the grass just a few yards north of Union Road.
Each flag represented a life lost in the attacks.
The weeklong display comes in advance of a vigil at 7 p.m. Saturday, which will commemorate the nine-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
The flags, which form “9-11” with a frame around it, were donations by American Legion Auxiliary Unit 155, of Crystal River, American Legion Post 16, of Gainesville, and UF’s Pro-Life Alliance.
Political science graduate student Jean Morrow, coordinator of the project and member of the local American Legion Post, said she was happy to see people volunteer their time during the holiday.
“I am impressed because it was Labor Day,” she said.
She has put in four years of work to put the memorial together.
When she learned of a similar memorial at the College of Central Florida, in Ocala, she was compelled to bring the memorial to Gainesville.
“It was something that I needed to do,” she said. “It’s like a calling.”
Linda Spears, a UF parent visiting Gainesville for the weekend, said she felt the memorial was an appropriate reminder of the attacks for students and local residents.
“We tend to forget too easily, too quickly,” she said.
Morrow said the memorial is placed on the plaza so that students and community members alike can see it, whether they are walking or driving.
She added that the display is not meant to be seen as political.
“This project is all about getting people to remember the victims,” she said.
The solemn memorial is a contrast to another planned event in on Sept. 11.
The Dove World Outreach Center plans to burn copies of the Quran on its property in Gainesville.
