Reactions on campus from the tragic terrorist attack Tuesday on the United States ranged from disbelief and sorrow to feelings of anger and retaliation. The tragedy felt close to home even though it happened across the country.
Ken Smith, a 24-year-old student majoring in computer science, has four family members who worked in the World Trade Center.
“I feel nothing but pain right now, along with utter disbelief. This is too big to be real,” Smith said. “Goddamn, I wish I could wake up. My emotions are beyond chaotic. No word has been given to me about the status of my family.”
Smith said it may be several days before he hears anything about his relatives. While obviously upset, he does not want an unilateral response from the United States.
“These people, if caught, they should be given due process and trial. Only then we should take action. We should not let this event rob us of our ideals,” he said.
Judy Romanini, who works as a counseling technician at BC, has a daughter who was on vacation in New York.
“I was panicked. My first thought was, ‘Oh, my God, are the kids OK?’ I saw it on the news this morning, it was about 6:15. So I was able to get through to her then – and it was what, 9:30 their time, I guess – and she was OK. And then for several hours, and then of course that was after just the first plane, after that we couldn’t get through for several hours, and she finally just called me about 10 minutes ago and said that they were fine,” she said.
“She said they were 10 blocks from the tower, but they saw the second tower go down. She said it was an awful sight.”
“People were in the streets just hysterical, people were crying. She said the worst part was when they actually saw the tower go down. She said people were jumping out of windows from the towers.”
Students around campus reacted with disbelief.
“This is a wake-up call, not only for the federal government, but also for society. It’s beyond belief,” said 19-year-old journalism major Katie Swank.
Nichole Ferullo, 18, stated, “All you can do right now is pray for everyone that was in that building, and the families. I don’t think an attack like this should be taken lightly, and I think it will be met with extreme measures.”
Some students said that terrorists will continue to plague America. Diane Baker, 46, who served in the U.S. Air Force said, “I’m scared. I know this is not over.”
The total collapse of the World Trade Center seemed surreal to 21-year-old Sarah Espinoza.
“It was horrible,” she said. “It’s scary to imagine something like that happening. It’s something you would see in the movies.”
The idea of a possible war was on the minds of many students.
Tyrone Pickens, 19, said, “I feel nervous that a state on the West Coast could be hit next. I just hope we don’t have to go to war.”
Joseph McDonald, 18, said, “Man, that scares the hell out of me … I don’t want to fight.”
On the other hand, Victor Martinez, 19, liberal arts major, said, “I’ll be ready if I have to be called.”
Faculty and staff also voiced opinion on Tuesday’s horrific tragedy.
Dr. David Rosales, professor of history discussed how the United States may react.
“It certainly is a tragedy,” he said, “However, I think, quite frankly, terrorism is maybe the curse of the 21st century. Certainly, it is going to be incumbent upon President Bush to have a response to this, unfortunate as it may be. It will be and would have to be a retaliatory response.”
English Professor David Best wasn’t focusing on teaching Tuesday, but on the victims and families of the attack.
“I just let class out early because the mood just wasn’t right to teach,” he said.
Denise Pandol, a political science teacher who studied international relations said, “I think we need not be fearful. We need to wake up. There’s tremendous support of groups against the U.S. It was unprovoked and deliberate. I hope the (Bush) administration will have the courage to tell us who’s responsible.”
Jack Brigham, a political science and history professor said, “My greatest sadness is to my Islamic students on campus today, because so many people do not understand their religion and they actually associate this violence with that religion, or as opposed to if it was Osama (bin Laden) or a certain group, you know, within the religion.
“What I would like to see our president do is immediately call an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council and if necessary, the general council, and actually sit down and go into a global dialogue on terrorism,” said Brigham.
Dr. Randall Beeman, a history professor, urged that people react with caution.
“This is a really important event in our history,” he said. “We need not react with hatred even though we feel anger. We shouldn’t act irrationally. We need to pray for people and hold our anger in until we know who we are to be angry with.”
– Journalism students Megan Bell, Anna Bliss, Claudia Cazares, Audrey Ednalino, Daniel F. Hunt, Jarrod M. Graham, Elizabeth Gregory, Anthony Lewis, Tami Olivares, Yvonne Pereida, Daniel Ruiz, Linda Sanchez, Cody Slaton and Zachary Smith contributed to this story.