From shock to sadness

The campus community responded with shock to the Sept. 11 attacks last year, glued to television screens for hours of live news coverage. One year afterwards, the campus was blanketed in a different atmosphere, one of uncertainty about the meaning of that unforgettable day.

After days of high temperatures, Sept. 11, 2002 brought strong winds and cloudy skies. The cool weather fully captured the troubled mood on campus, as the crowd at the 5 p.m. Academic Quad memorial service stood silent for a moment.

For some, the day was marked by a somber mood as well as by the seemingly appropriate weather. "I was a basket case this morning," Protestant Chaplain Steven Bonsey said. But, he said, the campus knows that it needs to keep going. "We're all trying to put our lives together for the new year."

Others on campus did not pay attention to the date, only pausing at moments to reflect, then carrying on as usual. "I was a little disjointed today," freshman Klementyna Weyman said. "Then I went to class, just like any other... day."

But when the afternoon came around, she was on the academic quad for the memorial service. "I felt that this is something that I should go to," she said.

Penelope Chester, a sophomore, felt that things went on as usual for the most part, saying that the bookstore and dining halls were still full of students. "It's the same as every other day," she said, but she thought perhaps students acted differently when they were alone and away from friends.

Other students noticed the normality of campus life. Freshman Katherine Miller said she was aware that people were thinking of Sept. 11 but did not know how conspicuous it was. "Overall, I didn't notice any atmosphere," she said.

The moods of faculty members also varied. Carol Baffi-Dugan, the program director for health professions advising said that the day had its moments. The anniversary "didn't overwhelm the day, but it was definitely in the backdrop," she said. "In some ways today was no different... but then I found myself stopping and remembering what day it was."

Baffi-Dugan also said she felt the day was a good time for reflection. "I don't think I ever had an anger as much as a sadness" for what would make people take such action as those on Sept. 11, she said.

Anger can be a way of coping with intense sadness, said Bosney, the Protestant chaplain. "I wouldn't say that [anger] is the primary feeling," he said. "My sense is that there is a lot of anxiety under the surface."

Bonsey felt that the recent actions by US leaders are not helping the situation. "The leaders of our government are trying to whip something up" when people just want to find peace, he said..

Nisha Mehling, a sophomore, said that the nation's sentimentality about Sept. 11 was being abused.. "Hate does not stop hate," she said.

Mehling felt that US President George W. Bush was taking advantage of the day to achieve his own goals. "It's ridiculous that Bush was talking to the United Nations yesterday" to convince them to support the US position against Iraq, he said.

Media and commercial use of Sept. 11 was also a sore point for many students. Junior Angelica Lundquist said she saw department stores using the anniversary for advertising. Citing the flood of television specials and advertising for Sept. 11, she said that all the coverage was disturbing. "The media is glorifying it," Lundquist said.

But Chester, the sophomore who said she did not notice anything different about the public mood on campus Wednesday, added that she was not concerned about the various issues and arguments on Sept. 11. "I tried not to think about that stuff, and just remember," she said.

In the end, most just wanted to meditate on what the day meant for them and for the country. "This anniversary largely marks the loss," Miller said. "I was beyond the point of anger... there was just sadness."