Six Months Later, College Quietly Remembers Sept. 11

Author: Peter Simon

Six months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, members of the Middlebury College community are slowly coming to terms with the events of that day.

According to Acting President Ronald Liebowitz, the College did not consider commemorating the six-month anniversary of the events but will begin plans to commemorate in some way the one-year anniversary next fall.

Nevertheless, the six-month anniversary of the terrorist attacks allowed several members of the Middlebury community to reflect on how the College dealt with the aftermath of Sept. 11.

"After Sept. 11, we saw people naturally coming together to support one another," said Atwater Commons Dean Scott Barnicle. "I think it showed something about the nature of this community that everyone felt comfortable talking with each other about it."

On that Tuesday morning, the College faced the challenge of providing information and support for members of the community, especially those with friends or family in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry recalled that the Student Affairs Office in Forest Hall immediately became a place for students to seek information about loved ones. "Our offices were full pretty much all day," said Gentry. "We had to help a lot of students get in touch with people they knew in New York and Washington." The school also set up counseling and support groups in the residence hall.

Commons deans also played an integral role in the support and healing process, following up on individual students who were personally affected by the events. "I think times of emergency are when we see how well the system of the commons network works," said David Edleson, dean of Cook Commons. According to Edleson, he was able to keep tabs on affected students through commons residential advisors, junior counselors and residential assistants, as well as through personal meetings with students.

Many Middlebury students also sought counseling to discuss trauma as well as other psychological issues resulting from the events of Sept. 11, according to Director of the Center for Counseling and Human Relations Gary Margolis. According to Margolis, there were a few students who lost people close to them and who sought help coping with the sudden loss. In addition, he said, Sept. 11 was a major topic for some students who were not directly affected by attacks.

"Sept. 11 brought a sudden and unexpected trauma which no one had a chance to anticipate or prepare for," commented Margolis. "The trauma created feelings of vulnerability, fear, anger and even numbness for several students I spoke with." Margolis noted that a small number of students experienced post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of watching the situation unfold on television.

According to Margolis, the challenge was to get students to achieve a balance between "getting back to normal and dealing with their feelings about the events." Students were encouraged "not to remain isolated with their experience" regarding the events and to connect with other members of the community.

The school scheduled two events on campus to help the community come together to deal with the situation — a moment of silence behind Forest, as well as a meeting of the entire community at Kenyon Arena. Barnicle thought the events served as a "necessary expression of the College coming together at a difficult time."

On Sept. 11 and the days that followed, many students convened in television lounges around campus to keep track of the news, as well as to offer support for one another.

Jen Barton '04.5, who is from Manhattan, credited students with helping each other through the period.

"There was a general sense of concern for other people around the campus," said Barton. "Even people I didn't really know or hadn't spoken to in a while, who knew I was from New York, were asking me if everyone I knew was okay."

Liebowitz noted another tragedy that had struck the campus in recent years. The tragic death of four first-year students in a car accident in April 2000, had in some ways prepared the College for dealing with a tragedy of the magnitude of Sept. 11.