Last year, we were thrown off by the fact that the university did not hold their Candlelight Vigil on the 9/11 anniversary (as was done previously)... We did not have that much time to organize anything, but we released a resolution commemorating the anniversary, and created "Never Forget" lapel stickers, for our members to wear.

This year, we wanted to do something more major, to commemorate this tragic anniversary. We decided to hold a public screening of "United 93," the powerful documentary that had been in theaters earlier that year. We purchased the distribution rights, with underwriting help from Sangamon County GOP Chairman Tony Libri, Deputy Chairman Brian Schackmann, and Mr. Rob Winchester. The introduction for this event was delivered by Sgt. Wes Barr.

Young America's Foundation sent us materials, for distribution, as part of the "Never Forget Project."

The event was well-attended, as students, staff, and community members packed Brookens Auditorium, for this event.

After it was over, people were in tears... and outraged.

Part of the outrage was actually due to the fact that proponents of a wacko "documentary" - promoting a conspiracy theory about 9/11 - were waiting, for people to exit the auditorium, and they handed out flyers for the screening of their film, which was to take place the next day, at Lincoln Library downtown.

Some people were confused, and thought they were with us. When it became clear that those leaving the movie were very much not happy with what these people were doing, they ran away.

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Here is the press release that our university issued, and a related article in the local newspaper.

We were one of the four CR organizations in the country listed on the 9/11 anniversary page of College Republican National Committee's official website.

In addition to the movie screening, we set up two flags at the Fountain, on the UIS Campus Quad. They remained up for the entire day (September 11th, 2006).