Sept. 11 tested UNC, set a decade’s direction

On Sept. 12, 2001, the University invited everyone to gather in Polk Place so nobody would have to mourn alone.

The campus vigil was a response to a national catastrophe, the magnitude of which hasn’t been seen since that September day.

But just six-and-a-half years later, campus leaders decided they had to do it again.

The murder of Eve Carson in the spring of 2008 brought the community together in front of South Building on another sunny day, and traumatized the University much like Sept. 11 did.

“Those were the two most poignant and tragic moments in my time in the chancellor’s office,” said James Moeser, UNC’s chancellor from 2000 to 2008.

“In both cases, the safety of this cocoon that we live in was breached — one on a national scale, one on a very local scale.”

And while most of those who knew Carson have left UNC, the effects of the Sept. 11 attacks linger still today.

Through an increased international presence, a renewed commitment to free expression and, more than anything else, a loss of innocence that mirrored the national mood — UNC has become a very different place than it was in 2001.

“(Sept. 11) shattered America’s view of itself as a kind of sanctuary from the kind of violence that happened elsewhere,” Moeser said.

For Doug Dibbert, then the director of alumni affairs, the thought of Sept. 11 amounts to “imagining that we could have 3,000 Eve Carsons taken in one moment.”

‘Everyone was watching’

It seemed like everyone was watching television.

“We all just sat and watched the TV,” said Becca McQueen, a senior at the time. “You couldn’t get enough information, I think, at that point.”

In nearly every building on campus, students and faculty gathered around TVs.

Moeser was in a meeting with high-level administrators in South Building when he heard the news. They all walked to Carroll Hall in time to watch the second plane fly into the World Trade Center. They watched for more than two hours before realizing they needed to do something.

Administrators chose not to cancel classes that day, feeling it would be better to keep some structure in place.

Classes were canceled, however, around midday Sept. 12 so everyone could attend the Polk Place vigil. About 10,000 people crowded the quad all the way from South Building to Wilson Library.

“The single most powerful image of that whole afternoon was the end of that ceremony — we had the Bell Tower strike a very slow tone,” Moeser said.

“I asked the crowd to leave in silence. And the silence of that moment as people very soberly, somberly walked away arm and arm, in many cases holding hands, in complete silence — that was the most important part.”

Moving on

In the weeks, months and years following Sept. 11, the University experienced an accelerated move into the international arena.

Dr. Ron Strauss, executive associate provost and chief international officer, said 9/11 was a major catalyst for the growth of global studies.

“The truth is there was no FedEx Global (Education Center 10 years ago). There was no global studies curriculum … Our area studies capacity was limited. We didn’t even dream of naming schools the School of Global Public Health. That all happened in the past decade,” Strauss said.

“9/11 was, I would say, a catalyst to rethinking our relation to the world,” he said.

“There’s no question that the studies of Asia and the Middle East have taken up dramatically during that time,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp, who was director of the Morehead Planetarium in the fall of 2001.

But Thorp said 9/11 was just one of many factors that accelerated the University’s already existing international focus, including an expansion of communication technology and globalization’s effects on the economy.

The growth of Arabic language programs has been particularly striking. Only about 40 students took Arabic courses during the 2000-01 academic year. Last year, 426 students studied Arabic.

As UNC became more globalized, administrators sought to keep the school true to its commitment to open dialogue.

In 2002, the summer reading committee chose “Approaching the Quran: The Early Revelations” for the annual book, a pick that garnered national attention and criticism from some right-wing groups.

Moeser defended the choice publicly, giving a speech before the National Press Club defending the duty of a university to explore unfamiliar ideas.

“The whole world was watching us at that moment,” Moeser said. “In my view, it was one of the proudest moments in the University’s history.”

But even as UNC progressed, scars remained — and remain.

Six alumni were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks. Thorp and Dibbert will lay flowers at the 9/11 Memorial Garden in their memory on Sunday.

“Terrorism is still very much on everyone’s mind,” said Andrew Perrin, a sociology professor who started at UNC in the fall of 2001.

A feeling of vulnerability persists despite the fact that America is still safer than many other parts of the world, Perrin said.

That’s the way Moeser felt.

“The thing that came into my mind on 9/11 and 9/12 was a verse of America the Beautiful: O beautiful for patriot dream/That sees beyond the years/Thine alabaster cities gleam/Undimmed by human tears.”

“I thought to myself, ‘We can never sing that again because it’s not true.’”

Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.