Sept. 11, 2001

Indiana University students, faculty and staff members met in groups large and small Tuesday, trying to come to terms with the tragic events of the day.

At open forums, a candlelight vigil, informal get-togethers and prayer meetings, members of the IU community gathered and grieved together.

About 130 people gathered for the Union Board-sponsored discussion in Alumni Hall of the Indiana Memorial Union. Students expressed their shock, their fear and their desire to help at the session, which included input from faculty experts on terrorism, airline safety and other topics.

Naimah Raushanah Bilal, president of the Muslim Student Union, pleaded for tolerance and understanding at the meeting. Reading from a prepared statement, her voice breaking with emotion, she said, "American Muslims have family and friends who worked in the World Trade Center and for the federal government. American Muslims share a sense of profound sorrow with our friends and colleagues, for everyone touched by this tragedy, and pray that they all receive comfort, strength and guidance.

"It is our hope that we can avoid finger-pointing, and rather work together as a unified nation to see our way through this horrific event. Our prayers are with the victims and their families," she concluded, sobbing.

Charlie Nelms, IU Bloomington vice chancellor and vice president for student development and diversity, echoed Raushanah Bilal's call for unity, saying students don't need to wait for a committee, forum or event. They simply need to respond "human to human," he said.

IU President Myles Brand and his wife, IU Professor Peg Brand, also attended the Union Board-sponsored event.

IU Dean of Students Richard McKaig, who attended several of Tuesday night's events, said the mood on the Bloomington campus was somber, sorrowful and one of shock. Students repeatedly urged one another to stand together to be a community.

Approximately 400 IU sorority and fraternity members and other students gathered for a candlelight vigil to remember those who lost their lives in the tragedies earlier Tuesday.

The students were encouraged to remember that they are all part of a larger world community, that the world community is not evil, and that it is important to support the leaders of our country in this time of tragedy and grief.

"I urge you to support each other, and I urge you to respect each other," said one of the speakers.

The somber event at the Alpha Chi Omega house included comments from IUB Chancellor Sharon Brehm, who said, "We need to think about the people we lost, and we need to think about the strength of our community."

Brehm said it was particularly important at this time to "take good care of our international students." She said many of these students are scared right now. "The best thing you can do is reach out to these students and let them know they are part of our community," she said.

Members of the IU and Bloomington communities joined together at several area churches. In IU residence halls, staff members conducted meetings with students.

At 9 p.m., about 70 IU undergraduate students of different races, backgrounds and ethnicities gathered in the cafeteria at the Forest Residence quad to discuss their feelings and fears in the wake of Tuesday’s tragedy. Rebecca Jimenez, a counselor from the IU Residence Hall Resource Team, and a representative from Bloomington’s diverse and united religious community, were on hand to counsel students and offer suggestions for dealing with the day’s events.

The conversation opened with several students presenting ideas about what IU students can do to help their fellow Americans. Students talked about the pain they've felt while watching people suffer halfway across the country.

"I think a lot of us are feeling helpless sitting here in the Midwest, realizing that many other Americans are lying under rubble or in hospitals," one said.

Acknowledging there was little they could do to directly affect the situation, some students suggested to their peers that they donate blood to the local chapter of the American Red Cross, or just simply "pray to God or whatever higher power they believe in."

Students also talked about how the attacks have directly affected their lives, and expressed fears of future attacks. Many students wanted suggestions for how they should go about regaining a sense of security and normalcy in their lives. Jimenez told the students they should begin going about their regular business. She added that students should at first slow down in their lives, and eventually things will return to normal.

One student looking forward to better times summed up the feelings of the entire IU community -- and the nation: "I hope I never live to see another day like this, I really hope."

(Susan Dillman, 812-855-0850, sdillman@indiana.edu)