Pepperdine's Waves Of Flags Closed To The Public

MALIBU, CA — Pepperdine University will commemorate the 19^th anniversary of 9/11 with its annual Waves of Flags display, in which 2,887 American flags are flown to honor each American life lost in the terror attacks.

However, the university announced on Tuesday that due to COVID-19, the Alumni Park display will be closed to the public, including members of the Pepperdine community. Instead, a memorial event led by President Jim Gash and Chancellor Sara Young Jackson will stream at 10 a.m. Friday at the 9/11 Memorial Service website.

The installation, which features both American flags and flags of the home countries of people abroad, will still be on display at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Malibu Canyon Road through Sept. 21. The tradition started in 2008, when the Pepperdine College Republicans saw a similar display and wanted to emulate it at the university. Normally, volunteers from Pepperdine and the wider Malibu community install the flags in a public ceremony, which was also canceled this year due to COVID-19.

The university is also the permanent home of the Thomas E. Burnett, Jr. Heroes Garden, named for the Pepperdine alumnus who died on United Flight 93. Heroes Garden is also closed to the public, along with the rest of the campus.

“Pepperdine has a long tradition of honoring those who have gone before us,” said Pepperdine president Jim Gash (JD ’93). “For nearly two decades, this community has paused on this day each year to remember, to grieve, and to celebrate the lives of those we lost on that day in 2001.”