Our duty on 9/11

Thirteen years ago today, al-Qaeda terrorists carried out attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. which claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans. Today, we take a moment to reflect on this tragedy that affected countless lives and permanently altered the course of our country’s future.

As we consider Duke in the run-up to Sept. 11, 2014, the horrific events of more than a decade ago seem to have taken a backseat to the day-to-day going ons of the University. Although there will be a new wreath laid in the Memorial Grove of Keohane Quadrangle, Duke’s official online events calendar makes no mention of any commemoration and student groups remain predominantly quiet. On Monday, students received a Short List email from Steve Nowicki, the dean and vice provost for undergraduate education, promoting a volunteer fair Thursday with a description reading, “One way you can commemorate 9/11 is to volunteer in Durham and beyond.” Although volunteering is certainly a nice gesture, Duke should hold an official memorial service to commemorate the tragic events of 13 years ago. Duke should do more than treat Sept. 11 as if it were just another day.

While the nationalistic pride resultant from the Sept. 11 attacks has all but died, the anti-American sentiment in some parts of the Middle East is still alive. Over the past six months, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has made progress in its insurgent campaigns against the Iraqi military. Such an incursion threatens the Democratic government installed after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and endangers millions of people across all faiths, ethnicities and cultures. ISIS has been ruthless in its scourge of northern and western Iraq, massacring entire communities, destroying religious landmarks and contributing to the displacement of more than 1.2 million Iraqis in its march towards Baghdad. Most recently, the public and gruesome executions of two American journalists—who represent freedom of information and the press—are something we find to be a direct affront to democracy and freedom around the world.

Yet, despite these events, there has been a conspicuous lack of engagement from the Duke community as a whole. In our view, Duke has a moral and intrinsic duty as an American university to engage with the issues and contribute an academic rebuke of the ISIS ideology. As we are not politicians or tacticians, our main point of contribution should not be to prescribe policy, but rather to challenge these extremist ideologies and engage in discourse with special focus on the fields of political philosophy, moral philosophy and theology.

Eventually, we may hope to inspire other academic institutions and political leaders by continuing to challenge viewpoints surrounding this dangerous dogma. Yet, while Duke has such a duty on an institutional level, it is also the individual obligation of students and faculty to engage the issue on a personal level and be proactive in staying abreast with events happening around the world. We urge you to remember this as you go about your day and to never forget those who have lost their lives protecting the freedoms we enjoy.