College students celebrate Osama bin Laden’s death

For a generation defined by the war on terror, college students welcomed the news of Osama bin Laden’s death as their first memory of national triumph.

Bin Laden’s death sparked celebrations at campuses across the state in reaction to the downfall of the world’s most wanted terrorist leader.

Evan Reed, a senior peace, war and defense major at the University, said he will always remember the significance of May 1. He was studying for his terrorism and political violence final when a friend called to tell him the news, he said.

“This is a huge symbolic victory against terrorism,” Reed said. “We have eliminated their iconic leader.”

For today’s college students who were between the ages of 8 and 12 when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred, bin Laden’s death has been called a defining moment of the generation.

While exam study sessions may have kept some UNC students from organized celebrations, hundreds of Americans gathered outside the White House as President Barack Obama announced that “justice has been done.”

A true testament to the influence of social media, many young Americans learned of bin Laden’s death long before Obama made the official announcement.

Terrell Russell, who just received his doctorate in information and library science from UNC and has studied the impact of technology on breaking news stories, said the release of news about bin Laden’s death is evidence of the evolving nature of social media.

“Being able to see and hear people directly through sites such as Facebook and Twitter is a really recent phenomena,” Russell said. “This is interesting considering that the biggest stories are not necessarily broken by the mainstream news media anymore.”

Professor Cori Dauber, who teaches the peace, war and defense course on terrorism and political violence, said she learned of bin Laden’s death from her students.

Dauber said she had decided to disconnect her television and internet that night. Several students emailed her to comment on the news, she said.

“My initial reaction was very different from what I had always assumed it would be,” Dauber said. “I always figured when we got him I’d be just like the folks cheering outside the White House, but initially my reaction was just much quieter.”

Dauber said bin Laden’s death is a symbolic loss for al-Qaida and gives the U.S. momentum in its fight against terrorism.

“It denies the other side an iconic leader and leading propagandist,” she said. “And now it’s starting to look as if we also denied them someone who continued to play a key role as an operational planner, something many thought was no longer the case.”

Dauber and Reed said U.S. officials should be hesitant to assume this is the end of the al-Qaida militant group or the war on terror.

Reed said the war has never been about killing bin Laden and that it worries him that people think the military can now withdraw from Afghanistan.

“His lieutenants are still out there,” Reed said. “Bin Laden’s videos and Islamic sermons will be re-purposed.”

Russell said he hopes bin Laden’s death will be the bookend to a generation of college students who have been living in fear.

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