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The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

Power of Unity: Remembering 9/11

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The Student Veteran’s Association paints the quad red, white, and blue.

Walking through the quad to go to the library on Tuesday, Sept. 9, many students and faculty were more than likely approached by members from the Student Veteran’s Association who handed out American flags asking to plant them in the grass all along the walk to the clock tower. The simple request that the members of this organization asked didn’t come with any sign in sheets, they didn’t ask for your email address, or even your name, it was just a question to remind us all to honor those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Eric Sage, the president of the Student Veteran’s Association here at SLU recognizes that the events that occurred on “September 11 had a profound impact on everyone in our community and we wanted to engage with other SLU students in a meaningful way.” Obviously 9/11 is considerably one of the most impactful events to happen in American history since the attack on Pearl Harbor 60 years before. American flags are no surprise here considering that 13 years ago, the entire nation, and much of the world, literally stopped still to watch as the seemingly impenetrable national security was breached.

As a typical Tuesday, most students at the time were either at home, or at school during the terrorist attacks. Panic was the common reaction. Dr. Stephen Belt, the chair of the aviation department here at SLU, was on campus during the 9/11 attacks and stated that, “The attacks on 9/11 changed the fundamentals of how we think about aviation protocol.” The FBI visited universities all across the United States, including the one here at SLU, during the following weeks after the attacks occurred. “In one respect nothing changed,” Belt continued, “but in another [way] everything changed.” SLU, like all university aviation departments, had to deal with a plethora of “new flight restrictions” surrounding anything from locking the cockpit door on commercial jets, to citizenship verification protocols for all pilots flying through American airspace.

Dr. Timothy Lomperis, professor of political science at Saint Louis University, was also present on campus that morning. Lomperis specializes in international relations and international security.

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The vibe amongst the community at St. Louis was “mass hysteria… there was a fear was that there wasn’t just the four planes.” Talk of the Arch downtown being attacked was frequent, as well as any other iconic structure in the city. Lomperis states “the effects on SLU were similar to the whole country” and that we as a nation wasn’t necessarily as “impenetrable” as previously believed. SLU, however, experienced “dips”, as Lomperis stated, “in the student enrollment, especially Middle Eastern students” on campus and in Madrid. In fact overall, both campuses temporarily saw a drastic change in the level of diversity over the next year. Eventually, however, SLU saw its enrollment return to pre-9/11 levels.

The most profound outcome on SLU’s campus after the events that happened on 9/11 wasn’t necessarily the change in aviation protocol, or how we view national security. Rather it seemed to be the message that the members of the Student Veteran’s Association are trying to deliver. Sage states, “The flags are individual memorials to sacrifices made in the last 13 years”. They are a representation of unity, recovery, and memory for those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks and the events following them. He admits that the flags “stand together just as our communities have” and will remain to. The memory of 9/11 is something that many people are not fond of bringing up, but it is something that needs to be discussed and something that is so important for both America and the communities within it.

It is an anniversary unlike any other that makes us, as citizens of the United States, think about how well we can stand together as a country and a community.

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