As a student at HPU, I have up until this past week been very proud of my university. However, given the way HPU handled itself after the events that occurred in America on Sept. 11, I am both saddened and embarrassed by the university.

Not only did HPU hold class on Sept. 11, but it also continued to do business as if nothing had happened.

There was no moment of silence, except for a brief two minutes during the Sept. 14 Club Carnival, and in fact, a majority of the professors and faculty did not even discuss the events that took place on the east coast. There were of course exceptions, and I commend those professors who talked to the students about their feelings about what had occurred.

On Sept. 14, HPU and President Chatt G. Wright proceeded to have the Club Carnival, which is a celebration of sorts that welcomes in the new semester and promotes all of the university's student organizations and upcoming events. This celebration was held despite the fact that U.S. President George W. Bush had declared the day to be a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.

It appears that the entire country took the time off to grieve. Professional sports such as the NFL and MLB postponed games, as did the state of Hawai‘i by canceling or at least postponing the Aloha Festival and the Ho’olaulea and Saturday parade. Yet HPU decided to celebrate the new semester with Club Carnival, which could have easily been pushed back a week or two.

I find this appalling and many of my classmates and professors are similarly appalled. HPU has shown little respect for those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, for all of those family members and friends of the victims, and for the heroic men and women who are helping in the rescue efforts.

Is the university so pressed for time and money that we as students and as a community couldn’t take the appropriate time to grieve?

Editor’s note: As our story “Club Carnival remembers tragedy” (page 4) indicates, there was very little “carnival” to this scheduled semi-annual event: none of the traditional performances by local rock bands, the HPU dance team, or the Cheerleaders. The HPU band performed only two pieces, the U.S. National Anthem and “God Bless America.” Kalamalama staff, covering the event and participating in it, and many of the students interviewed, found it a welcome place for members of the HPU community to come together, to remember and mourn, to share concerns and fears, to be with old friends and make new friends, to care for each other.