After this year’s Remembrance Scholars cohort learned about antisemitic writing and a drawing of a swastika in the files of Pan Am Flight 103 victims Jason and Eric Coker on Oct. 7, Scholar and Syracuse University Senior Emma Dahmen realized the group did not have time to make all the changes to the Remembrance Week’s programming that they wanted.

The group announced Wednesday that it will continue to include the Cokers’ names within the group’s programming, with a changed meaning.

“We are not honoring and celebrating their hateful actions. We are remembering their deaths as a result of terrorism. We are not honoring their legacy of hate,” 32 of the 35 scholars wrote to The Daily Orange in a letter to the editor.

The university’s Remembrance program published its schedule for Oct. 16 through Oct. 22 on Thursday with multiple changes from previous years.

The Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholars will be showcasing a mural titled “Look Back, Act Forward,” — the week’s motto. The program will display the mural on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Schine Student Center. Both sessions will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the Remembrance Week event website.

On Friday, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice Dr. Colin Atkinson and Researcher Dr. Andy Clark will speak at “‘It was known as the place where nothing ever happens. But it did. It did’: Trauma, Identity, Community and the 1988 Lockerbie Bombing,” according to SU’s calendar.

The pair have spoken with people who initially responded to the crash in Lockerbie, such as police officers and members of the local rescue team. During the event, the two researchers will discuss how the crash is remembered through trauma and emotional response, how identity impacts the narrative of responders and how first-responders were brought together by the attack.

Clark, who works out of Newcastle University, and Atkinson, who lectures at the University of the West of Scotland, will have their seminar from 10 to 11 a.m. in Bird Library Room 114.

Last year, the Pan Am Flight 103 archives held a pop-up exhibition showcasing its materials. The program did not hold the event in previous years and will not hold it this year.

Vanessa St. Oegger-Menn, SU’s Pan Am Flight 103 archivist, did not respond to an email request regarding changes in Remembrance Week’s programming.

While Remembrance scholars did not enact large overhauls to the program this year, Dahmen said that the current scholars will continue to adjust the program once the week concludes.

“The big debate we’ve all been having is the use of the word ‘honor’ in this program. And for me, I think it’s an important thing to distinguish,” Dahmen said. “We want to remember these individuals because their lives were taken far too soon but we don’t necessarily have to honor their hateful actions.”

Published on October 16, 2022 at 11:54 pm

Contact Kyle: kschouin@syr.edu | @Kyle_Chouinard