By Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier staff writer
On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- now known as Patriot Day in the United States -- Kent State University's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the "93 Cents for Flight 93" campaign are sponsoring a week of educational events today through Saturday.
United Airlines Flight 93, carrying 33 passengers, seven crew members and four hijackers on a suicide mission to use the plane as a weapon, departed Newark International Airport in Newark, N.J. at 8:42 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, bound for San Francisco. Shortly after 10 a.m. it crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa.
It is believed, and subsequent evidence has suggested, that those aboard attempted to overpower the hijackers. This caused them to abort their mission, which may have been targeting the Capitol or White House, and crash the plane prematurely.
In a partnership with the Akron-based HALO Foundation, KSU is helping the drive to memorialize the event in the collective consciousness and by helping to raise money to construct the Flight 93 National Memorial at the scene of the crash.
The special week at KSU includes a visit by family members of Flight 93 victims and appearances by Paul Murdoch, the architect of the Flight 93 National Memorial, and Jere Longman, New York Times reporter and author of "Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back."
A Flight 93 exhibit and timeline will be on display from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. all week in front of the MAC Center on the Kent campus. A rock memorial will be dedicated at 3 p.m. Today at the MAC Center.
Murdoch will appear from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Michael Schwartz Center. Longman will appear at 3 p.m. Thursday in the FirstEnergy auditorium on the third floor of Franklin Hall. A reception for family members of Flight 93 victims is planned for 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday in the Kent Student Center Kiva auditorium.
Special screenings of the feature film "United 93" are planned for 2 and 4 p.m. Wednesday and 5 and 7 p.m. Thursday in the Kiva.
Saturday's festivities will included the U.S. Army Fast Track Jump Team delivering the game ball and a fly-over by U.S. Air Force jets.