President Arnold J. Levine

On September 21, 2001, President Arnold J. Levine sent the following letter to the Rockefeller community:

The Rockefeller University Responds to the World Trade Center Tragedy

In the past week, since the World Trade Center explosions, a group of Rockefeller University staff members have been meeting to develop a plan for how the university as a whole may want to reach out and assist the local community particularly the individuals who have given so much to help the public recover from this horrible tragedy.

As reported by the press, people throughout this country and indeed the world have been very generous with donations of money, time and resources. So there are few truly critical needs that are immediate. In the near future, Virginia Huffman of Human Resources and Cathy Yarbrough of Communications will provide you with details of the overall program that they -- and I -- are recommending to be the Rockefeller community outreach effort.What I want to do now is focus on one major aspect of it: an educational scholarship fund, created by donations from university scientists, students and staff, that will benefit children of local firefighters, police officers and emergency medical service staff who lost their lives due to the World Trade Center explosions.

The university will match your contribution.

This effort will be a positive contribution to our community.

Because the Rockefeller community represents just about every country in the world and every ethnic and religious group, we symbolize one of the major characteristics of New York City -- and the United States as a whole. We recognize that this country, like the world, is a community of different people who can and want to interact positively for the benefit of humankind. Behaving in this manner has characterized the generosity of the public this week -- and will insure our future wellbeing.

Thank you,

Arnie Levine