Remembrance Scholar cohort holds candlelight vigil to begin 2022 Remembrance Week

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Content Warning: This story contains mentions of antisemitic language.

After walking from Hendricks Chapel to the Place of Remembrance, the 2022-23 cohort of Remembrance Scholars placed electric candles along the edge of the memorial’s wall. Throughout the yearly routine, the scholars and the crowd that had gathered were silent.

The 2022-23 cohort of Remembrance Scholars hosted a candlelight vigil Sunday at the Place of Remembrance in front of the Hall of Languages to begin Syracuse University’s 2022 Remembrance Week, an annual tradition of honoring the 270 victims of the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Scholars plan commemorative events for the week according to the program’s principle of “Look Back, Act Forward” to honor the victims.

“We are a group of 35 imperfect SU students representing 35 imperfect people,” Remembrance Scholar Josh Meyers said. “But through our imperfections, we will continue to learn how to act forward and transform our mission to combat the very hatred that ultimately led to the bombing of Pan Am 103.”

Jason and Eric Coker, who died in the bombing, both used antisemitic language and imagery in letters to family members in 1988, the year of the attack. The vigil addressed the implications of that material for the program’s future.

Before the vigil, Hendricks held its weekly Music and Message event which included performances by the chapel’s choir, remarks from Hendricks Chapel Dean Brian Konkol and reflections from 2022-23 Remembrance Scholars Diane Benites, Dara Drake, Sifan Hunde and Meyers.

Meyers introduced himself as the scholar who discovered the antisemitic language in the Remembrance archives. He said the current cohort’s priority is education about and advocacy against acts of terrorism.

Meyers, who was in charge of planning the vigil and ceremony, told The Daily Orange that it’s important for the SU community to attend this year’s Remembrance events. He said the events will be “powerful” and will have a heavy focus on the cohort’s current mission.

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Hunde told The D.O. that she and the other speakers each in their remarks tried to address a different aspect of the cohort’s position regarding the discovery and its circumstances. In her speech, Hunde spoke about what the week represents to her.

“While Remembrance Week started today and ends on October 22, the community reflecting and acting does not stop there,” Hunde said in her speech.

Following the Music and Message, the cohort of remembrance scholars guided attendees to the Place of Remembrance in front of the Hall of Languages. Meyers read a statement from the cohort before the start of the vigil establishing their stance against “antisemitism and all other forms of violence.”

The cohort will continue to include the names of Eric and Jason Coker in this year’s Remembrance Week events, the statement said.

Though she said she condemns his actions, Benites, the Scholar representing Eric Coker, said during her speech that the discovery should encourage the SU community to continue to act against hate.

“I am grateful that light was shown onto this material,” Benites said. “It has already sparked crucial conversations and actions that go beyond this program.”

A group of the scholars read the names of the 270 victims of the Pan Am 103 attack, also listing Andrew McClune’s name, a Lockerbie scholar who died during his year studying at SU in 2002 .

Following a moment of silence, Drake shared a poem that Sharon Davis, the victim she is representing, wrote about her father. The vigil closed with a performance by The SU Mandarins, an a cappella group.

Zach Blackstock and Natasha Gilfillian, the 2022-23 Lockerbie Scholars, attended both events. Lockerbie Scholars are two students from Lockerbie, Scotland—the city over which the Pan Am 103 bombing occurred and killed 11 people—who receive a scholarship to study at SU for one year.

Blackstock told The D.O. he thought the events were well-executed in light of the recent controversy.

Given that the program focuses on remembering the lives of those killed in the crash, he and Gilfillian said victims tend to be idolized, and that acknowledging the Coker twins’ past helps to rework how the victims are regarded.

“It brings you back to reality, remembering them as imperfect people. Sometimes, people have very terrible views,” Gilfillian said.