The immediate responses each school orchestrated were also strikingly similar.
Rallies and vigils of mourning and unity were held on campuses across the state.
Like the rally held at UNC-Chapel Hill's campus at Polk Place -- which had an estimated turnout of 10,000 -- these gatherings drew large crowds of students eager to share their feelings about the attacks.
But when the initial flurry died down, the diverse identity of each school began to show as each student body formed a unique response.
Collaborating for a Cause
As efforts to respond to the attacks began, many students realized their school's financial and human resources could shape relief work.
At several campuses, student organizations' leaders collaborated for a single effort.
Group organizers said the process stimulated a variety of relief ideas and offered the manpower to make those ideas a reality.
"We used this as an opportunity to bridge the gap between student organizations," said Jamar Owens, the president of the Union Activities Board at N.C. State University. "Everyone was able to put aside their differences and come together."
Owens said the committee drew upon donated materials from the N.C. State College of Textiles to produce personalized cards to send to victims in New York, as well as thousands of white armbands that were distributed to the student body. "The armbands told someone on campus that we are not just united as a nation, we are also united as (N.C.) State students," Owens said. "We let minority students know that they were safe here."
Maneesha Agarwal, a UNC-CH student who led the campus' 9/11 Relief Committee, said collaborating with other campus organizations made it easier to distribute and publicize the sale of "UNC for USA" T-shirts. Agarwal said the group was able to sell over 600 of the student-designed shirts. Sale proceeds went to the relief fund.
School of the Arts graduate student David Summey said an umbrella organization was needed to give direction to students looking for a way to help. "After September 11, our whole school turned around," Summey said. "Everyone was walking around in a state of mourning, and it was clear somebody had to do something."
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
Summey said he had no idea what would result when he organized the relief group's first meeting, but within a few weeks, the group had sent a personalized 4-by-20 banner to the Tiche School of the Arts, located several blocks from the World Trade Center.
Rouzie delivered the banner -- adorned with the handprints and artwork of 500 School of the Arts students -- in person to the Tiche School, where it hangs in the student center.
Rouzie said the experience renewed her motivation to convert the newly formed group, Students Healing Through Art, to a recognized nonprofit organization that will lead future relief efforts.
Owens also said he would like to see N.C. State's relief group continue to work on charitable causes, including projects not related to the attacks. "We shouldn't have to wait for a national tragedy to come together," he said. "But a possible upside of this is that we'll be able to collaborate on projects in the future."
In the Spirit of Giving
While some students tapped their creativity to craft relief projects, traditional fund-raising efforts were at the efforts' core.
East Carolina University's Student Government Association raised $8,000 for the disaster relief fund. N.C. State's relief group raised nearly twice that amount. Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity at UNC-Charlotte chipped in $1,700, while students at UNC-Greensboro's Cornelia Strong College raised $3,500 for the American Red Cross.
Agarwal said even fund-raisers with simple organization succeeded, mainly because of student generosity. "We're all poor college students, and yet we kept getting $20 bills dropped into our bins," said Agarwal, who helped lead efforts at UNC-CH that netted $15,000 for the fund. "I was most surprised by the outpouring of financial support."
Excited by the public's support, one group of students didn't limit its goal to mere thousands of dollars.
On a challenge issued by their entrepreneurship professor, eight students in N.C. State's College of Management launched efforts for a $2 million scholarship fund to benefit victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks.
The students, who plan to raise the funds over five years, said they have already solicited thousands of dollars in financial support from alumni and local companies such as DitchWitch. They said they feel such a high figure is both appropriate and attainable given the scope of the attacks.
"With the group we have, it doesn't make sense to have a lesser goal," said Josh Churlik, the spokesman for the group. "Rather than just affect one or two students, this endowment will live on and grow exponentially over the years."
In between passing out fliers and accepting checks at a parent-student tailgate party outside Carter-Finley Stadium, group member Stad Smith said establishing the scholarship within the NCSU Educational Foundation will provide assistance to disaster victims decades into the future. "There's funds out there to help the firefighters and police officers but nothing to help the kids who lost their parents," Smith said. "The wife of one of the victims in the plane crash was pregnant, and 20 years from now that kid might need money to go to college."
Students in UNC-Wilmington's senior class are planning a scholarship for attack victims as their senior class gift.
Churlik said students easily can establish such a fund by working with business programs at other universities. "This is a viable option at any university," Churlik said. "Its just a matter of students wanting to set it up and make the extra effort."
Echoing the countless students who have engaged in fund-raising projects over the last couple months, Churlik said that extra effort is well-rewarded. "When you're through, you'll be providing education for those who cannot afford it," he said. "For a few extra hours of work a week, how can it not be worth it?"
A Vocal Reaction
The events of Sept. 11 also sparked an intense desire in many students to raise their voices in support or protest of U.S. military action.
Student leaders said pro- and anti-war activism on campus emerged quickly after the attacks.
"The attacks kind of take you out of your complacency with national affairs," said Adrien Lopez, the student government president at UNC-W. "You want to be heard one way or another. I've seen a lot more of that fire on campus."
Ben Webster, president of the Progressive Student Movement at UNC-C, said the attacks have created a campus environment more favorable to political activism. He said an anti-war rally held on campus was well attended and led to a series of weekly vigils to raise awareness for Afghans killed in the war.
"UNC-C is still a rather conservative campus, and previous activism has been met with hostility," Webster said. "I was surprised at the rally by the patience and decency people had in engaging in constructive debate."
Robindra Deb, a student at UNC-G and head of the university's chapter of Amnesty International, said two rallies and a convention organized by the campus anti-war committee were effective in raising dissent against military action and in ensuring the safety of Arab-American students, a cause he said first motivated him to help found the committee.
"Some minority students were being harassed on campus, and I found that there was a correlation between the anti-war movement and the anti-hate movement," Deb said. "When you're at conflict nationally with another ethnic group, you're likely to feel conflict with all people of that group's ethnicity."
But while anti-war protests captured some students' interest, others are devoted to raising support for U.S. military action. "We want to keep division from creeping back into the public mood," said Darren O'Conner, president of the N.C. State College Republicans. "Agitating would be detrimental to the military campaign."
O'Conner said most students are supportive of the U.S. military effort but have not actively voiced that support, so he organized a patriotic rally at N.C. State. "There hasn't been a lot of visual support and that's why we tried to have this here," O'Conner said. "A lot of the responses have been reduced to roundtable discussions, and we need more vocal support for the troops."
A Form of Catharsis
As the memory of Sept. 11 fades, student responses and relief efforts have begun to taper off on college campuses.
Student leaders said reminders of the attacks are no longer visible on campuses now that the emotional shock has died down. "You see news reports about America under attack and living in a state of fear, but walking around our campus, you don't see that much change," Webster said.
But while student relief efforts have recently decreased considerably, some students said they still feel compelled to respond to an event that changed their outlook on daily life. "There's a lot of people questioning themselves and deciding if they can continue going about with things as simple as school," Summey said. "You have to ask yourself, 'Am I doing what I have to do?'"
Students who have been engaged in relief efforts say such work has been -- and remains -- the best way to cope with such personal frustrations.
"For me, this is a form of catharsis," Smith said. "A lot of people have been watching the events and want to be out there with the troops, but the country doesn't have a huge need for them in that capacity. By doing this, I know I'm doing my part to help out."
Owens said students still looking to help don't need to look outside their communities. "Everyone has been affected by this to the sixth degree of separation," he said. "There are a lot of families right here in the area that could use some help and it doesn't have to be in the form of a financial contribution. A card or a hug or a smile can go a long way."
And while many schools are now at a loss for new responses to the attacks, student leaders said their experiences of the past few months have given them faith that responses can regenerate.
"I've learned that it really is possible to organize something this big in such a short time," said Rouzie. "For something as big and important as this, students really are willing to come together."
