By Josh Abner
In the wake of this week’s tragedies, University of Louisville president John Shumaker decided to keep the university open on Tuesday and throughout the week.
“The governor (Paul Patton) has decided that the state government will remain open,” Shumaker said. “In keeping with the spirit of this decision, the university also will remain open.”
The university also remained open on Friday, a day United States President George Bush declared as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. A memorial was held on Friday afternoon in observance of the day of prayer in lieu of class cancellations. “We may not have known them personally, but we mourn them because they were us,” Shumaker said during Friday’s memorial service. “They were students, educators, parents, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, children, friends. . .individuals of all ages, from all backgrounds, all walks of life. In losing them, each of us have has lost something of ourselves.”
University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. said during a memorial service in Lexington on Friday: “We all look at the flag a little differently today.”
Many universities around the country chose to cancel classes at some point during the week. Miami (OH) University, University of Texas, Purdue University, and Georgetown University closed classes on Friday in observance of prayer, according to their Web sites.
