9/11: The Duke family

Although September 11, 2001 dredges up horrific memories that will stay with us forever, the events that constitute the worst terrorist attack on American soil remind us of the companionship and resourcefulness of the Duke family.

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On the morning of September 11 directly after the first jetliner had slammed into one the Twin Towers, it was an understatement to call the crisis shocking or baffling. To sum up the air of uncertainty that morning, national news broadcasters were calling the tragedy an accident, some sort of horrible mistake.

People congregated to the televisions in the Bryan Center, said Michael Gustafson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. He remembered that Duke stayed open that day—nothing was canceled.

“There were police cars everywhere within an hour or two—the campus remained on lockdown for a day or two after," said Stephen Nowicki, dean and vice provost for undergraduate education. “There were police cars at all of the entrances and police at all of the critical places. Classes weren’t officially canceled, but I remember that day my class wasn’t going to go anywhere.”

The Office of Student Affairs immediately went to work utilizing its resources, passing information along between students and parents to account for Duke faculty and personnel.

“Dean Sue [Wasiolek] set up a command post in a multimedia-enabled conference room in the Faculty Commons near Plates and Pitchfork trying to contact students where we weren’t sure where they were and contacting parents if we couldn’t get in touch with the students—basically centralizing Duke’s resources as far as taking care of the people,” said Gustafson said.

Finally, within the next couple days, it was found that no students or faculty at that time were killed in the terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, since Duke places so many graduates onto Wall Street, five alumni were killed that day. Additionally, the tristate area is one of the top areas represented in the undergraduate class, so there were many Duke students that had relatives and friends caught in the midst of the gruesome events that took place in New York City and the Pentagon.

Gustafson noted that the Duke community—being the open and accepting community that it is—recognized that the practice of Islam is distinctly separate from terrorism and that all terrorists were not Muslim extremists simply by association. The international Duke community did not discriminate or shun those practicing different religions.

“There was a non-denominational prayer service in the quad in front of the chapel,” Gustafson said.

Christopher Roy, associate director of undergraduate studies and professor of chemistry, recalled Nietzsche’s famous quote, “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”

Practically speaking, 9/11 and the subsequent shootings at Virginia Tech led to the implementation of the Duke Alert systems—the emails and text messages that are sent to notify the campus of emergencies.

But even more importantly, the Duke community was brought closer together despite places of origin.

Chris Roy, the faculty-in-residence of Wilson Residence Hall, referred to the 100 students living in Wilson as his family, which speaks volumes about the tightly-knit community of which we are a part.

No matter where we are from, and no matter Muslim or Catholic or Protestant or atheistic, Dukies are open to new and different people and new and different ideas. That is in essence what makes us Duke students. We accept all into what we call our family, the family that will exist now, next year and until the day we die, because we are always here for each other.

Whether it’s the student office tracking down family members during crises, spiritual leaders holding prayer services or the freshmen advising counselors on move-in day lugging pounds of luggage up three flights of stairs in nearly hundred degree weather, Dukies will always lend the hand of support whenever another needs it.