Campus Talk From ETSU
By Dr. David Currie

Early Tuesday morning (September 11, 2001), faculty, staff and students were beginning to huddle in small groups around radios and televisions and details of the growing series of disasters was spreading to classrooms. In our college, a television had been set up in an office immediately across from the Dean's office; people were dropping in to hear and see the latest information and to verify or discard rumors. Our Dean, Dr. Bishop, was in telephone contact with the office of University President, Dr. Stanton, who quickly canceled all classes. President Stanton and Dean Bishop sent e-mail messages that classes were cancelled and announcing that any employee who wished to do so could leave for home at noon. They made it clear that these actions were being taken, although there was no indication of danger to the campus. Quite frankly, no one should have expected students to be able to concentrate on anything in a classroom. Most faculty, including myself, chose to go home to be with family.

Like college students across the country, many students in Tennessee schools have immediate family members who are in the military, some are in school with military funding. In a scene no doubt being played out in the morning hours on college campuses across the eastern half of the country, students were leaving, first, the buildings, and then the parking lots in an amazingly calm and orderly fashion. Some appeared to be just sitting in their vehicles, perhaps waiting for the crowds to clear, perhaps waiting to drive home with friends, or perhaps left momentarily to weak or stunned to drive following the sudden jolt of the devastating news we had all just received.

Many had their radios tuned to NPR and I could hear the voice of news commentators from nearly every car and truck that passed me. Students were gathering in small groups in hallways, on sidewalks and in parking lots to share the pieces of news each had received. It seemed as if every other student was talking in a cell phone; I overheard many sharing information with others, some checking in with their families. Clearly, most were aware of what had happened, few appeared happy to be leaving classes because of these events. I overheard many say they were anxious to get home to watch the news on CNN. You could see sadness in the eyes of many, redness and tears in the eyes of some, and as President Bush had noted, disbelief could be seen everywhere.

Some people indicated to me that they could not bring themselves to watch the events unfolding on the television. Others watched with growing anger and people I have known to be on opposite sides of the political spectrum were unified in their wish for America to exact vengeance upon the cowards who planned this evil deed. While many people might suggest that younger college age students do not have the maturity to understand the implications of the events that unfolded on the morning of September 11th, this was clearly not the case. The parking lots emptied quickly, but in an orderly fashion, almost as if drivers were being extra careful so as not to upset anyone else; during the exodus, I heard a single vehicle sound its horn off campus and I saw heads turn; normally the sound would have gone unnoticed, but now it seemed strangely out of place.