With a phone gripped in each hand, LaToya Pierre ’02 stared at the image of the World Trade Towers smoldering on her television screen. She dialed a friend on campus with her cell phone, while using her landline phone to reach another. Moments later, she dropped both to the floor as the first tower collapsed before her eyes.

 After pulling an all-nighter, Nashonie Chang ’02 was in her apartment preparing for an overdue nap when she heard the newscast of the disaster. It would be a long time before she could rest easy again.
      It was 9:15 p.m. in Hong Kong when study-abroad student Jayson Weinstein ’03 received a series of instant messages from his cousin in Washington, D.C., giving a detailed account of the terrorist attacks as they unfolded. Simultaneously, his mother called with the same information. But it wasn’t until he saw the TV coverage a few moments later that he truly began to fathom their reports.

each other, even if we have no personal connection to the tragedies still unfolding,” Shaw told those gathered in the chapel on September 11. “This is a time of confusion and fear for all of us. We all need a friendly hand.”
      The University provided services to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the campus community. A fund was established to help students who were directly affected by the attacks. Students concerned about the welfare of family and friends were invited to make phone calls at the Telefund Office, the Office of Student Affairs, and the Schine Student Center. Counselors offered emotional support to students at Schine, while some students sought more individualized help at the Counseling Center. “We tried to make clear to the entire campus that it’s normal to be upset right now,” says Rebecca Dayton, the center’s clinical director. The Counseling Center posted an online list of common reactions to the tragedies as well as activities to help people alleviate stress and work through their emotions.

      While the images of September 11 won’t soon fade, SU students have refocused their energies on continuing schoolwork, trying to understand the terrorists’ motivations, following the
American government’s response, and assisting those who were directly affected. “The students have really supported one another,” says Barry L. Wells, senior vice president and dean of student affairs. Throughout this ordeal, students
demonstrated the University’s core values of caring, diversity, and service, he adds. “The entire University community,” Wells says, “has been innovative in providing a variety of responses to the terrorist attacks.”
      The campus community rallied together by sponsoring blood drives, donating thousands of dollars, holding memorial services, and collecting supplies for rescue workers. Faculty members shared their expertise with news reporters and in public forums. The University immediately initiated special support services, and Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw, Hendricks Chapel Dean Thomas V. Wolfe, and University spokesman Kevin Morrow gave daily crisis updates in Hendricks Chapel. “We must support