| On a summery September morning in 2001, G. Scott Anderson and his fellow administrators at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) District were entering their second week of classes and were growing so quickly that they were using 40 of the 70 new classrooms in Fiterman Hall, which had recently been the subject of a $64 million renovation.
Within minutes the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center were struck by two airline passenger jets in a terrorist attack, triggering a massive evacuation that spared more than 17,000 BMCC students and staff attending classes in college buildings located in the shadow of the World Trade Center.
“BMCC would become a valuable emergency asset at ‘Ground Zero,’ “ even though classes were cancelled for three weeks, said Anderson, BMCC Vice President of Administration and guest speaker at the Oxnard College “All College Day” kickoff program held Friday, August 17 at the Casa Sirena Hotel in Oxnard’s Channel Islands Harbor. In his presentation on “A 9/11 Campus Response,” he emphasized the need for emergency preparedness and planning to Oxnard College President Dr. Richard Duran and OC staff as well as VCCCD Chancellor James Meznek, Vice Chancellor Sue Johnson and Associate Vice Chancellor Patricia Parham, Chief of Police James Botting and Lt. Richard DeLaO and VCCCD Trustees Arturo Hernández and Cheryl Heitmann.
And while it was difficult to relocate BMCC classes away from the smoldering wreckage of the World Trade Center, Anderson said it was imperative that the college semester continue, despite the loss of Fiterman Hall, which has yet to reopen after it was damaged by the falling debris of the falling WTC towers.
“When we talked to many of our students they told us that college was the one thing they had in their lives they could still depend on,” said Anderson.
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