Theresa Smith | Collegian
In remembrance of the 129 victims of Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, approximately 40 students gathered in front of Delp Hall on Monday, Nov. 17 to hold a moment of silence.
Professor of French Marie-Claire Morellec organized the event after receiving an email from the French Embassy inviting all French citizens to observe a moment of silence at noon that
day. Morellec holds dual citizenship in France and the United States.
“I was actually very touched by the number of people that so quickly, out of one email that I sent Monday at 8:30 a.m., came to turn out at the moment of silence,” she said.
Morellec said others held similar moments of silence throughout the country.
“All I said was, ‘Thank you for being here to help me honor the attacks on the victims of Paris,’ that’s it,” she said. “I had no intention about going into a speech. To me it was about honoring people — innocent people who are victims of terrorist attack.”
Morellec compared the attacks with 9/11 and said Americans shared the same sense of solidarity as the French. Like doctors and nurses following the 9/11 attacks, doctors and nurses in Paris also spontaneously returned to work after the attacks to help with the influx of injured patients, Morellec said.
Senior Emma Takach studied abroad in Paris during both semesters last year. Takach was in Paris earlier this year for the Jan. 7 massacre of Charlie Hebdo artists.
“Knowing how horrible those attacks were for the French, I can only imagine what it feels like to be in Paris today,” she wrote in an email. “I have received a lot of love and support from different people and groups on campus; Hillsdale is a magnificent place.”
Freshman Colleen Prince, whose father is from France, also attended the event.
“For a minute of silence, all you can do is hear the deafening cry of France’s pain and witness the strength of solidarity,” she said in an email.
Prince said she’s thankful that none of her family was in Paris during the attacks.
“Many were not given the opportunity to breathe that sigh of relief,” she said.
In addition to students with connections to France, Morellec said everyone in the French department has connections with friends or family in France.
“I lived just a 10 minute walk from several of the restaurants that were attacked and got married in the 11th Arrondissement,” Assistant Professor of French Sherri Rose wrote in an email. “One of my friends, a high school teacher, lost a colleague who was attending the concert at the Bataclan.”
Morellec said she believes it’s notable that many of the people targeted in the attack were young.
“It was your generation that was under attack; they were young people, full of life,” she said.