ORONO – Struggling to make sense out of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, many University of Maine students and staff members marked the first anniversary of the tragedy searching for peace within themselves and with others.

Stopping in the Memorial Union on Wednesday, student Meg Muller, an education major, said she had found a measure of peace by reconnecting with a friend she hadn’t spoken to in years.

“I miss you but I’m thankful for the time we spent together. My prayers are with you,” was the message she said she left on his answering machine earlier that morning.

Message boards set up in the union lobby revealed other ways people had found peace in the wake of Sept. 11.

“I learned not to take life for granted, but to live for today and tell the ones I love how much they mean to me,” one person wrote.

Participating in a meditation ceremony in the Buchanan Alumni House that attracted about 10 people, a student who identified herself only as “Cindy,” said she didn’t want to hear about war or terrorism Wednesday.

“It’s the victims and their families” she said that concerned her.

She tearfully recalled friends in New York who had lived close to the twin towers and whom she had been unable to reach for days after the attacks.

But the meditation had helped her relax. “It’s good to be with other people,” she said.

During a Maine Peace Action Committee discussion in the union’s Coe Lounge, more than 20 students and faculty watched a video created by relatives of the 9-11 victims.

The families were urging the United States not to go to war over the Sept. 11 attacks. Their messages of peace inspired those watching.

“I thought it was so beautiful that people were reacting with empathy and sympathy and love, not anger,” said student Meagan Small.

Another student, Sean Prendergast, wondered what part the U.S. played in the attacks.

“What did we do to cause this? Was it one sick individual or was it for a bona fide reason?” he said.

Earlier, President Peter Hoff told about 200 students who gathered on the mall that ” … the core values that universities stand for and defend came under direct attack on Sept. 11.”

“It therefore behooves universities to engage in this battle by doing what they do best: promoting knowledge, enlightenment and understanding,” he said.

Evelyn Silver, director of equal opportunity, said that earlier she and others in her office had stopped what they were doing when the carillon bells sounded in memory of the Sept. 11 victims.

Looking out the window, she said she had seen others pause as well. “It was a simple, quiet way to remember,” she said.