When four planes glided off the runways into the air on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, then-freshman Emily Becker, like most Tufts students, was fast asleep in her dorm room, completely unaware that this date would soon become synonymous with fear and disaster.
It wasn't until over an hour later, as Becker woke up to prepare for her first class, when a phone call from her roommate's boyfriend shattered her usual morning silence. He told her to turn on the television to any channel. Seconds later, she watched live as a plane collided with the second tower of the World Trade Center. The event marked the beginning of a hectic and frightful period in which Becker witnessed her community grow and change.
"I remember for the entire day it all seemed unreal," she said. "Everyone was kind of detached, and we were worried."
Today, the five-year anniversary of the attacks, Tufts students will pause along with the rest of the nation to remember the events of that notorious day.
Some will attend the remembrance service sponsored by the University Chaplaincy, which will be held at 12 p.m. at Goddard Chapel. Others will go to the chapel at 5:30 p.m. for "Remembering September 11, 2001," a program of readings from plays by the Underground Railway Theater Company, and open-mic poetry (see page 5 for further details).
Others, though, will simply recall their own experiences and memories and reflect on the past five years.
"It's so easy to forget and just go on like nothing has happened," said sophomore Emily Neger, a Manhattan native whose mother was on her way to work at the World Trade Center when the attacks occurred. "But I think if we learned one thing from the attacks, it was that we shouldn't take anything for granted."
Neger was just beginning her first-period class on her second day of high school when an administrator came in to inform her class of the attacks. Soon after, in a school-wide assembly, she learned that the buildings had collapsed.
"I broke down and was crying. Cell phones weren't working, and all of the land lines were busy," she said. "I couldn't reach anyone until my dad got in touch with us hours later."
As it turned out, Neger's mother had narrowly avoided disaster thanks to a lucky mistake.
"I found out that my sister forgot her math homework at home that morning, so my mom had to drop it off at the school," Neger said. "She was running late to work and was actually stuck in the subway for three hours once they stopped the service from going downtown."
"After that, my mom gave her permission to forget her homework whenever she wants," Neger added.
Across town, Tufts sophomore and Riverdale, N.Y. resident Abigail Burg was intently watching the news in her high school gym, where the entire school was assembled. She remembers feeling overwhelmed.
"I think the initial reaction was just disbelief and confusion," Burg said. "When the second plane hit, it was pretty much just silence in the room. Watching the buildings collapse was the scariest part; it was like something out of a movie."
Though none of Burg's family members were in danger, she said her entire community was impacted by the attacks.
"Everyone sort of knew somebody who knew someone who was affected," Burg said. "A lot of people have this notion that New Yorkers are really cold, but after the attacks, everyone was just so warm to one another. People would be crying on the subway, and complete strangers would comfort them."
Then-freshman Cle Beda said he remembered the Tufts campus coming together as well.
"It was really scary, since it was my second week in college, in another country," said Beda, who had just come to Tufts from his home in Brazil. "There were more people in the Campus Center than I've ever seen. They were crying and watching the news together, and some of them were trying to make phone calls."
Becker said the attacks brought forth a great deal of nationalism and support in the weeks that followed.
"A lot of my guy friends were talking about joining the Marines, and all of a sudden there were a whole lot of American flags on campus. There was one on every single car for a while," she said. "While it's calmed down a little bit since then, I think that attitude has continued through to today."
Sophomore Kate Mattern said that, as she remembers the attacks, she will focus on what she's learned from them.
"It makes me stop longer when I see an article in the paper or a report on television about an attack somewhere else in the world," she said. "While that once might have seemed sad but removed from me, I think Sept. 11 has in a small way helped me to understand how devastating this kind of event is, and to feel our country has a responsibility to help and support other nations who need it in the aftermath of their own disasters."
