As we approach the first anniversary of September 11, we thought it might be helpful to compile some sources and story ideas for you. Dick Jones Communications helps seventeen colleges and universities with its public affairs work.
AFGHAN WOMEN TO STUDY IN U.S. -- Six women from Afghanistan will start college in the United States this month on full scholarship -- the result of a challenge made in January to American college presidents. Roy J. Nirschel, president of Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, wrote the presidents of all four-year colleges in the United States urging them to offer a full scholarship to a deserving Afghan woman because, "the Taliban, in addition to its overall violence and repression of human rights, singled out women for degradation and isolation." Nirschel committed RWU to offering two scholarships to Afghan women. His challenge encouraged four other colleges and universities to offer scholarships also, including the University of Montana, Notre Dame College in Ohio, The University of Hartford in Connecticut and the University of Southern Oregon. They will arrive in the United States on Sunday, August 25, staying briefly at the RWU campus, before being taken to their respective schools by Mrs. Paula Nirschel, who shepherded the scholarship program through a labyrinth of Afghanistan and U.S. State Department channels.
9-11 ANNIVERSARY COULD REOPEN GRIEVING PROCESS AGAIN -- The anniversary media blitz is likely to open old wounds for some who lost loved ones in the attacks. Dr. Susan and Stephen Paolucci, husband and wife psychiatrists and grief specialists for the Geisinger Health System, which provides health services to 2.5-million patients in some 38 rural counties of Pennsylvania, report that there is no set timetable for grieving -- meaning the anniversary could be quite painful to some. Susan is chief of Psychiatry Consultation Service and medical director of system therapeutics for Geisinger's Medical Center in Danville, Pa. "It (grieving) is a process quite unique for every individual," she says. After the initial shock and disbelief from the death of a loved one, Paolucci reports that people may progress to depression, despair, despondency. "And again, these are all normal unless the grieving individual appears 'stuck' in this stage, or becomes unable to function, or themselves contemplate death in the form of suicide," she says. If any of those conditions occur, Paolucci urges them to seek professional help. Stephen believes having support available could help those who suffered loss get through the anniversary. "For most of us who are grieving, talking with supportive others about the loss -- and any other associated traumatic experience -- facilitates our passage through the grief process. What the rest of us can do is be available to listen," he says.
THIS IS NOT PEARL HARBOR -- In the days following September 11, many compared the World Trade Center attacks to Pearl Harbor. It was never a good analogy, says Wilkes University historian John Hepp. "People didn't focus on Pearl Harbor, because it started the war," he says. "It was not dominating the news a year later [like 9/11 is]." Unlike Pearl Harbor, and the following war, the WTC attacks have not really altered our daily lives. "Most people's lives, other than being inconvenienced at airports, haven't changed all that much," he says. So, why the continued focus? "Obviously, the attack was a terrible, traumatic event, but since we don't have a policy on what to do next, we keep looking back at it."
OFFERING SOLACE AND HOPE THROUGH SONG -- The Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Lawrenceville and Princeton, N.J. will participate in two nationally broadcast programs commemorating the events of September 11, 2001. One program, "In the Shadow of the Towers," is a one-hour special program of music and readings that will be broadcast through the Public Radio International (PRI) network. The other program, A Requiem for September 11, is a performance of GiuseppeVerdi's Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at Liberty State Park that will be broadcast on Public Broadcasting System television stations throughout the nation. "In the Shadow of the Towers" will be particularly fitting for the September 11 remembrance, with music performed by the 40-voice Westminster Choir, and texts read by President George W. Bush and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, among others. The program was recorded in the Princeton University Chapel with organ and a chamber ensemble accompanying the choir for some works. It will be broadcast nationally through the PRI radio network, which numbers over 700 stations. The 125-voice Westminster Symphonic Choir will join the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Zdenek Macal, in performing Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem at Liberty State Park in New Jersey on the September 11 anniversary. The performance, which is sponsored by WNET and Johnson & Johnson, will be televised nationally through the Public Broadcasting System at 10 p.m. in all time zones.
ECONOMY WILL REMAIN STRONG, JUST LIKE AMERICAN PEOPLE -- Since the terrorist attacks, the United States economy has also taken a hit. Jill Hendrickson, associate professor of economics at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., has researched other episodes of panic or crisis impacting the economy and points out that the U.S. is capable of weathering shocks -- even as severe as the September 11 terrorist attacks. "One method of anticipating the future is to try and extrapolate from the past. Has the economy been in a similar situation before? If so, how has it responded? This is a more difficult and challenging task than it may initially appear, primarily because an attack of this magnitude, on domestic soil, was unprecedented," says Hendrickson. Using events like the market crash of 1987 and the Persian Gulf War as a barometer, she went on to report that history indicates that we do rebound economically from tragedy. "As evidence, consider that in the past 60 years, the stock market tends to fall an average of seven-percent immediately following crisis, but then the market rallies to gain an average of 12.5-percent six months after events," Hendrickson says. "This particular act of horror (on 9-11) serves, among other things, as a reminder that we are all extremely fortunate to live and work in a free society that creates opportunities for ongoing economic prosperity."
CHURCH NUMBERS DWINDLE ONE YEAR AFTER -- Immediately after September 11, church and synagogue attendance skyrocketed, says Dr. Flavil Yeakley, professor of Bible and director of the Center for Church Growth at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. At that time, he'd felt there was "a real possibility for religious revival in this country." Yeakley, who is a member of the Association of Satisticians of American Religious Bodies, says today, however, attendance numbers have slumped. "We're back to where we were before September 11," he says. "People seem to be in denial, as if to say, 'That won't happen to me.' If we have another attack, that attitude may change," he says.
RECONCILIATION REQUIRED TO FIND TRUE 9-11 PEACE -- Former Iranian hostage Kathryn Koob, now a lecturer in communication arts/religion at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, proposes reconciliation -- not retribution --to help people come to grips with the events of September 11. A former Foreign Service Officer who will be awarded the American Legion Auxiliary's "Woman of the Year" award during the organization's convention in Charlotte, N.C., Koob was held hostage by Iranian revolutionaries in 1979 during her service overseas. She has taught a course titled, "Reconciliation" the past four years at Wartburg. Koob believes the most important thing for people to do is not shut themselves out to people who are different than them -- particularly as the old scars of 9-11 are reopened during the anniversary. "We need to reach out to people who are not like us," she says. "It's been said that a different language has often kept people apart, but as languages became more common -- cultural differences then also become one." While she knows that most Christians aren't going to become one with the Islamic faith, she encourages Americans to learn more about different religions and the way they believe and live. "They'll find that everyone wants some of the same things -- like a good education, freedom to make a good living, and respect," says Koob. "The most important things is to teach people to respect. Yes, we need to be aware of unusual and strange things on one hand. But on other hand, women who wear head scarves and men with beards need to be respected too."
9/11 HELPED HEAL POLITICAL WOUNDS -- How did 9/11 change the Bush Presidency? "When was the last time you heard anyone argue that he 'stole' the election, that his Administration has no legitimacy?" answers Dr. Harry Wilson, associate professor of political science at Roanoke College in Salem, Va. "The 2000 election is now history for most of the country, Al Gore notwithstanding. The events of 9/11 may have opened some serious wounds in the economy and psyche of the country, but it certainly helped heal one that could have festered for years."
AMERICANS PATRIOTIC IN PUBLIC, BUT NOT IN THE POLLS -- Patriotism swept the country following the terrorist attacks, but a researcher who studies American public behavior doesn't believe that translates into a greater sense of civic duty come voting day. David Schwieder is an assistant professor of political science at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., and one of the authors of two research papers on the American voter and its political knowledge. According to academic work on voting turnout, Schwieder reports that rises and falls in turnout have most commonly been explained through "cost/benefit" analyses. "The argument is that voting entails a certain cost -- effort, time, sometimes even money to some degree -- and can entail certain benefits, such as fulfillment of one's citizen duty, satisfaction from helping one's candidate. Voting is consequently more likely for individuals whose cost is smaller and benefit is greater," he says. "The 9/11 attacks would not be expected to reduce costs of voting, so the only boost in participation would conceivably come from a boost in benefits of voting. The general expectation out there seems to be that turnout should increase because citizens will now derive greater benefit from feeling that they have done their patriotic citizen duty by voting. However, if elections are more about one candidate vs. another, one would expect little extra benefit from voting after 9/11, since both Democrats and Republicans are pretty fully on board the anti-terror express -- and voting for one over the other says little about one's patriotism." Schwieder also points out that some political science literature argues that Americans tend to be quite loyal and patriotic toward the basic symbols and elements of the American political system -- such as the American flag and the U.S. Constitution -- but nonetheless very negative and distrustful toward the current "regime," which covers the politicians and parties currently in office. "Both of these lines of argument would predict little or no 9/11 effect on turnout," he concludes.
9/11 RESTORING STATURE TO PRESIDENCY -- Political scientist Dr. June Speakman thinks we're seeing the "continuation and perhaps acceleration of a trend of restoring the presidency to some of its pre-Watergate, pre-Vietnam glory." "Those two events had a much more significant effect of the office of the presidency as Congress weakened the executive through legislation and political resistance and the public weakened the office by selecting divided governments," says Speakman, an associate professor of political science at Roger Williams University. "Since the Reagan era, the presidency has been regaining some of its constitutional might and some of its stature with the public. September 11 has allowed that process to pick up some steam."
BIOTERRORISM 204 -- In a new course titled "bio-terrorism," 24 undergraduates at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., this fall will learn how to be "scientifically literate" when evaluating public policy on biological threats to the nation. The point of Biology 204 is to show students the scientific, policy, ethical, and moral issues involved in the war on terrorism, according to Dr. John Palisano, professor of biology, who will teach the class. "Every bit of the science we will discuss is already well-known among people who would wish to use it for evil purposes," explains Palisano. "I think it is really important for Americans to become more scientifically literate so that they can judge whether public policy decisions made about bio-terrorism issues are correct or not." It is a biology class, of course, and first the students will learn about bacteria, viruses and the toxins they contain. Then students will study the diseases bacteria and viruses cause. They will explore "patho-physiology" -- how anthrax, smallpox, botulism and other disease agents kill. "We depend so much on science and technology in our lives," says Palisano, a microbiologist by training. "But so many people understand so little about the science that impacts us every day. If you don't understand the problems then you can't make informed decisions about the costs and benefits of proposed solutions." Students seem to agree. Biology 204, open to biology majors and to non-majors, filled up quickly.
ARE AMERICANS STILL LIVING IN FEAR?-- Our society is understandably terrorized by terrorism, says Dr. Dave Myers, a social psychologist at Hope College in Holland, Mich. and author of the new book Intuition: Its Powers and Perils (Yale University Press, 2002). "Ironically, after 9/11, the terrorists continued killing us, in ways unnoticed," he says. "In the ensuing months, Americans flew 20 percent less. Instead, we drove many of those miles, which surely caused more additional highway deaths than occurred on those four ill-fated flights." According to Myers, terrorists could have taken down 50 more planes with 60 passengers in 2001 and -- had we kept flying -- we would still have finished the year after in planes than on the road. "It is perfectly normal to fear purposeful violence from those who hate us," he says. "When terrorists strike again, likely where unexpected, we will all recoil in horror. But smart thinkers will also want to check their intuitive fears against the facts. To be prudent is to be mindful of the realities of how humans die. By so doing, we can take away the terrorists' most omnipresent weapon: exaggerated fear."
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