September 8, 2026<\/p>\n
Tuesday, September 11, 2001, was a flawless, late summer morning in New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barely a week into the new semester, the Queens<\/a>, NY, campus\u2014then, as now\u2014was buzzing with activity with new students trying to find their way, while faculty, administrators, and staff provided all with the resources necessary to get their college semester off on the right foot.\u00a0<\/p>\n One such annual resource, the Activities Fair, was scheduled for that day.<\/p>\n Shortly after work began at 8:30 a.m., Jackie Lochrie \u201994ED, \u201999M.S.Ed., \u201908P.D., \u201924Ed.D.<\/a>, Vice President for Student Affairs (then, Coordinator of Student Services), and her team were setting up for the fair on the Great Lawn, when news came that a plane had struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.<\/p>\n Without a television, the scale of the disaster was initially unknown. She noted that students and colleagues around her immediately began saying that several people they knew were at the World Trade Center. \u201cIt was like, \u2018My wife works there, my girlfriend has an internship there,\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n Rosa C. Yen \u201903M.S.Ed., \u201912M.A., \u201921M.A., Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs<\/a>, was a graduate assistant in the Division of Student Affairs at the time. She was living in O\u2019Connor Hall and getting ready for work when she noticed the same images on every channel.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt must be a new movie,\u201d she said to herself. \u201cI really thought that. I finally asked myself, \u2018Is this real?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Former student David Graziano \u201903CCPS, Senior Vice President, Head of Retail Network at GoodRx<\/a>, was a junior, as well as a resident assistant and student worker in the Department of Athletics<\/a>. At that moment he was in a philosophy class. \u201cAround 9 a.m., the professor announced that a plane had struck the World Trade Center.\u201d The class initially assumed it was a terrible accident.<\/p>\n After contacting his family in Rhode Island, Mr. Graziano looked from Alumni Hall (now Carnesecca Arena<\/a>) toward Manhattan and could see smoke billowing from the towers. \u201cIn those first hours, there was fear, confusion, and very little information,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut fairly quickly, a different question began to emerge among those of us on campus: What can we do?\u201d<\/p>\n As word came that students from the newly established Manhattan<\/a>, NY, campus were making their way toward Queens, the focus changed from shock and horror to what must be done. \u201cWe had to rally around what was right in front of us,\u201d Dr. Lochrie explained. \u201cWhat were we doing for students?\u201d<\/p>\n Students from the Manhattan campus walked across the 59th Street Bridge to the Queens, NY, \u00a0campus, \u201cbecause they simply did not know where else to go,\u201d Mr. Graziano said.<\/p>\n Michelle McCullers, Associate Director of Residence Life<\/a>, was in her second year at St. John\u2019s and could not comprehend what she saw. \u201cThe students were covered in dust and soot, carrying little plastic shopping bags containing whatever they had managed to grab.\u201d Some were missing shoes or even socks, she recalled. \u201cAnd then from that point, it was like, go. In Residence Life, you\u2019re trained to deal with stuff. Your mind just shuts off and then goes into assist mode.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Yen said that Student Life administrators quickly needed to determine who was stranded, who could get home, and who couldn\u2019t. Students were unable to reach their families as communications broke down.<\/p>\n Dr. Lochrie and her colleagues sprang into action. Residence Life administrators and staff began determining vacancies, finding linens and clothing, and acquiring basic necessities. They and others donated clothes, while textbooks and supplies eventually had to be secured as well. The concern extended beyond the students arriving from Manhattan. She was also teaching an undergraduate course, and broke away long enough from the relief efforts to call each student individually. \u201cAre you okay? Are you safe?\u201d she remembered asking them. Classes could wait. \u201cWe\u2019ll figure out next week, next week.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Yen recalled beds being counted in the relatively new residence halls and people trying to locate mattresses and blankets.\u00a0 Students shared supplies, rooms, showers, clothing, and whatever else they could offer. \u201cAs a resident assistant, I had a slightly larger room and a student from the Manhattan campus stayed with me for several days. My room became his room,\u201d Mr. Graziano said.<\/p>\n Ms. Yen spent much of her time talking directly with frightened students, some of whom were crying or trying not to. One told her, \u201cRosa, I feel like I want to cry.\u201d \u201cI said, \u2018Just cry, just let the tears out, don\u2019t worry about that.\u2019 The students trusted us.\u201d<\/p>\n Resident assistants secured vans, organized potential blood donors, and tried to account for students whose worried families could not reach them. \u201cStudents immediately volunteered to donate blood, so we began collecting names and contact information and organizing trips to a local hospital,\u201d Mr. Graziano noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, we tried to keep track of students and their whereabouts so that worried families trying to reach their children could get information. There was fear everywhere, but there was also an extraordinary instinct to help.\u201d<\/p>\n The residential community at St. John\u2019s was relatively small at that time. \u201cIn the hours and days that followed September 11, that small community became remarkably close,\u201d Mr. Graziano stressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBarriers seemed to disappear. People who had never met embraced one another. Doors opened. People shared what they had. We talked. We hugged. We stayed close, sometimes simply because no one wanted anyone else to face those moments alone.\u201d In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, St. John\u2019s offered the use of the Manhattan campus to the Red Cross<\/a> as a respite center. \u201cWe were able to pivot on a dime,\u201d Dr. Lochrie recalled, adding that the partnership seemed to cement the city\u2019s relationship to St. John\u2019s. \u201cIt was nice to see that the University was part of what the city needed at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Yen stressed that the normal hierarchy disappeared as people came together. \u201cThere were no titles.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to get them a place to stay. We had to get them food to eat. We had to get them clothes. We had to get our phones to make international phone calls,\u201d Ms. McCullers stressed. Several students from Trinidad desperately needed to call home. \u201cThey would come to our office every day. \u2018I have to call my mother. I have to call this person.\u2019 That\u2019s the strongest memory I have,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI don\u2019t remember who we called to get everything done. It was simply all hands on deck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. McCullers echoed those sentiments. \u201cWe were a new residential community. We had only opened in 1999, but we rallied as a community, as did the University as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n