| September
11th and the Days After |
1
- 2 - 3 - 4
- 5 - 6 |
September
11th and the Days After
Students
were in their finest attire, portfolios under their arms, in the throes
of Early Interview Week at the Law School
while other students were finally breathing more freely having endured
their first two weeks of law school. Soon after 9:00 A.M. on September
11th all routine ground to a halt. The Clock lounge in Nicole E. Tanenbaum
Hall filled with students, faculty, and staff who stood and sat in silence
watching history play out before their eyes on TV. Some were motivated
to leave the school immediately to volunteer at emergency sites like the
American Red Cross in Center City. Others stayed at the Law School to
offer comfort, consolation, and strength to each other.
Two days later, Dean Michael Fitts
assembled a panel of law faculty who presented an open forum to discuss
what we were facing. Professors Kim Lane Scheppele,
Jacques deLisle, Senior Fellow David
Rudovsky, adjunct lecturer Harry Reicher,
and Gruss Visiting Professor Moshe Halbertal
presented a program that was both challenging and moving. At the time,
it seemed to offer a salve for the wounds inflicted on the 11th . In retrospect,
it demonstrates how, in the immediate aftermath, we were trying to sort
out September 11th without a comparable event to guide us. Some predictions
have played out, whereas others reveal the unknown terrain on which we
have been since that portentous day. Dean Fitts noted that for his generation
the defining moment was the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and for
this generation September 11th would be the day that defined theirs.
Professor deLisle began, “In the Pentagon situation room today advisors
are talking about what response would be lawful. As absurd as I find this
to be, I also find it heartening.” He continued, “The saddest
irony is in the name of the target - the ‘World Trade Center.’
This is globalization getting back at us as an open society.”
|
