Sun 5 Dec 2004
This story has the ring of an urban legend.
Colleges and universities should help cultivate an understanding of why it is blessed to be American and help us to avoid America’s disintegration. A sign of how far we are from that goal is found in a review in a political science journal of several books, including one by William Bennett, former U.S. education secretary.
Bennett is quoted as having written in Why We Fight that on the Sunday after the terrorist attack of Sept. 11 there was a Pledge of Allegiance at his alma mater of Williams College that was attended by “two hundred students, numerous maintenance and cafeteria workers, the college president … and exactly one professor.”
True or false or somewhere in between?
December 5th, 2004 at 9:55 pm
If Bennett is talking about the Sunday night candlelight vigil that Diane Williams ‘02 organized on Chapin Steps (http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?view=article§ion=news&id=734), he is very much incorrect. I was at a Williams dinner beforehand, walked over with several faculty members and stood with them through most of the event. I also recall, several other members of the faculty speaking during the open mic session. It was a very moving event and I remember it well — and remember how the whole Williams community, including students, faculty, staff and local townspeople, all came together that night.
December 6th, 2004 at 9:48 am
I wrote a letter detailing some of the outpouring of sympathy from the Williams community following 9/11, that the event (if it existed) was unadvertised, and explaining that most professors don’t hang out on campus on Sundays since there are no classes.
Jay Ambrose wrote back promptly, took my points, and promised to rectify the misleading statement in a future column. (He said that correcting it in his current column would not be helpful because his column is posted regularly on news sites all over, so his corrections would not impact those posts.)