We have all heard about it, but no current student lived through it. The terrorist events that occurred during September 11, 2001 were devastating, and thankfully nobody in the Wabash community was harmed in the event. At the same time, we cannot look at the old edition of our campus newspaper as a time capsule for the institution during the event. Additionally, we have alumni and staff on campus who were alive during this time, and even in New York when it occurred.
25 years ago, Associate Professor of Theater Jim Cherry was living in Queens. He was working toward his Ph.D. in theater history. His partner and future Wabash English professor, Crystal Benedicks, was his roommate, who was teaching at the time for Queens College.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the two began their days like any other. Benedicks left home to teach at Queens College, while Cherry stayed behind before teaching later that day at City College in Harlem. Neither knew that by the end of the day, New York City, even the country, would be terrified for decades to come.
Benedicks was riding a city bus through Queens when she heard people starting to murmur “World Trade Center.” From the bus, she could see the smoke rising from the towers across the East River.
“It was the most beautiful September day” said Benedicks, “The clear sky provided a clear view of the World Trade Center as the reality of the attacks began to set in.”
Cherry turned on the television at home and called Benedicks, who was at Queens College trying to understand what was happening while attempting to facilitate her students. The subway and many of New York’s public transportation systems had shut down, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded across the city.
Benedicks worked one by one making sure students of the college were able to make their way home safely. One of her students drove her back home.
“The streets were dead empty,” said Benedicks. “It was absolutely vacant.”
That evening, Cherry and Benedicks went to a pizza restaurant. The restaurant was packed with people from the neighborhood. For Cherry, the scene was a representation of something important about how New York natives were responding to the attacks.
“Everybody was having this kind of shared traumatic experience,” said Cherry. “Being around people provided a sense that the community was still there.”
The sense of community existed alongside a darker side of the aftermath. American flags appeared throughout the city for the passing days. At the time, both Cherry and Benedicks believed the events on September 11, 2001 would be defining for the rest of their lives.
However, 25 years later, the world has continued to change in ways they couldn’t have imagined. They mentioned events like the COVID-19 pandemic, the election of the first Black president, the emergence of AI and even the first man at Wabash to take parental leave.
Perhaps the greatest lesson from their experience is that even after an event as devastating as September 11, life continues. The scars remain, but people adapt.
Cherry himself will be returning to the city this Thanksgiving as part of an immersion trip with Wabash students. If there is something to take away from this, it is that even from a huge scarring incident like the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 that scarred a nation, we must move on.
Wabash College itself has also spoken up about the catastrophe several times over the years. For example, in 2012, the Wabash community came together briefly on a Tuesday morning to remember the events of September 11, 2001 by organizing activities that included placing 2,977 American flags on the mall that aligned flags that spelled out “9-11.” The shape of the upper loop of the nine was in the shape of the Pentagon. Each flag represented a person who died in the terrorist attacks.
The event was organized by the Wabash Conservative Union, a campus organization at the time. While no students, staff or alumni were directly harmed on September 11, 2001, Wabash College was and continues to be impacted by the terrorist attacks on that tragic day.