Everyone remembers when it happened — sitting in class watching planes crash into buildings, or hearing about it later at home. Ten years later, professors reflect on how the terrorist attacks have shaped American culture — with heightened patriotism, tighter security and redirected hate crimes.
Kevin Smith, then a history professor at Ball State, sat in his office on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, to look online through the morning news. When he reached a headline that said a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, he thought it was an accident. He didn't even click on the story to read it.
"Later, my wife called and asked if I had seen news about the plane crashing into the World Trade Center," he said. "I said ‘yes, I've seen a blurb about it,' and she said ‘Um, you might want to take a look.'"
When Smith checked the news again, a second plane had crashed into the towers. He knew this was no accident.
Gary Crawley, assistant professor of political science, said he was in his office when his daughter called to tell him about the first attack. As he sat with other faculty members in front of a TV, they saw the other tower being hit, the attack on the Pentagon, and one of the towers collapsing.
"It's like everything that happened, you thought that was it — and then something else happened," he said.
Bryan Byers, professor of criminal justice and criminology, saw the news that Tuesday morning from his home. As he saw a second plane crash into the towers, he said out loud, "This is a terrorist attack."
TIGHTENED SECURITY MEASURES
Crawley said two things stand out to him about the actions the government took in response to 9/11: The passing of the Patriot Act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
The Patriot act relieved restrictions on wire taps, eavesdropping and the liberty to look at individuals' financial records.
"Politically, I think that was a dramatic shift," he said. "A lot of this was possible primarily because the attacks changed the way Americans thought about their daily life and security."
Crawley said society's view of increased security changed to a point where current safety measures are taken for granted.
"When I go into the county building and I have to go through metal detector and take my shoes off because they have metal, that's a very different lifestyle than before 9/11," he said. "We relaxed the bill of rights as a result of 9/11, and people were willing to accept that."
NEW WAVE OF HATE CRIMES
Byers said the incidents also changed some of his focus of study. His classes focused on hate crimes and domestic terrorism — until 9/11, when he started to lecture more about international terrorism.
Byers published a report with a colleague about the effects of the 9/11 attacks on anti-Islamic hate crimes in 2007, which looked at patterns of hate crimes committed toward Muslims after the attacks of 9/11. He was surprised that cities like Columbus, Ohio, reported more hate crimes in the months after 9/11 than New York City.
"It kind of made sense because the people there [in New York City] are used to living in a diverse community, and this is so devastating that it created more a sense of community than anything," he said.
REACTIONS AND GRIEVANCES
Smith remembers students in his U.S. history class seemed nervous about getting drafted after the 9/11 attacks.
"I told them that given the nature of the attack and given the nation's past, a draft it was unlikely to happen," he said.
Smith said the attacks changed some aspects in his teaching. He said when he talks about Pearl Harbor, he compares the incident with that of 9/11.
"Back then, after the attacks on the World Trade Center, we didn't know who did it," he said. "One of the things I emphasize to students is that there are differences between the two. History does not repeat itself."
Smith said what he found impressive was the nation's reaction towards the Islamic community.
"I know there have been isolated incidents," he said. "I know there has been mistreatment of Muslims, but the scale was much less than anticipated."
But the attacks on the World Trade Center brought grievances that will never be relieved for close family members, Smith said. He said the assassination of Osama Bin Laden was perhaps a closing-point for a nation as a whole, but even that is disputed.
"The circle will never be closed for the families," he said. "Perhaps for the nation but not entirely until operations are done in Afghanistan. I understand their point that the story seems to be finished, but it's not."
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