Pitt saw changes after 9/11

In the five years since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has experienced some noticeable… In the five years since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has experienced some noticeable changes — longer lines, heightened security in airports and a war in Iraq, to name a few.

But on a smaller scale, Pitt students and faculty have observed both subtle and overt shifts since that unforgettable moment five years ago.

As for education, professors have had to find ways to teach about the war in light of a whole host of issues — including sensitivity and topic ones that go hand-in-hand with teaching about a contemporary war.

“Everybody, at least now, was a thinking person at the time of 9/11,” said Pitt professor Ronald Linden. “So you have a common frame that you can refer to. In that respect it’s something that gives us a common reference point.”

Linden, who teaches Introduction to Foreign Relations and Comparative Foreign Policy classes among others in the political science department, doesn’t feel that his freedom to speak an opinion has changed in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, era. Many times, in fact, he will deliberately provoke opposition simply to get students to think about all sides of the situation and all of the issues that comes along with it.

“The hard thing about teaching within a subject that relates to 9/11 is that you don’t want to forget the human aspect of it,” Linden said. “But it’s our job as political scientists to analyze.”

Professor David Berman is an associate professor in the School of Education. On a daily basis, he deals with Sept. 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq as it concerns future secondary school teachers.

“Teaching about a contemporary war is very difficult because of intentions,” he said. “You have your brothers and sisters serving in Iraq and it’s not so easy to teach about warfare when you have personal connections.”

Until Sept. 11, 2001, the United States was relatively isolated. But when terrorist attacks occurred on our own soil, education swerved into unknown territory, said Berman. And that’s what professors and high school teachers alike are dealing with five years later.

“There’s still a great deal of tension surrounding the subject and there’s a great deal of confusion as well,” he said. “It’s hard to develop a clear picture of just what is happening here.”

Analysis of a war that is unfolding before our eyes is difficult, said Berman.

“You’re not just teaching history, you’re teaching contemporary reality,” he said.

Most students have not noticed a major difference in the way professors teach about the war. The controversy, though it runs deep in many cases, lends itself to lively classroom debate.

“I don’t think anyone is reluctant to say whatever they think,” Hawkins said. “But I do think 9/11 shouldn’t be forgotten, and that we should be proactive in terms of remembering what happened.”

Students also recognize the changes that have taken place since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“We’re looking at the world as a much smaller place,” said Josh Thomas, a Pitt junior. “But we seem a lot more polarized.”

Aside from the deep political divide that seems to have taken hold in the United States, Thomas has also noticed a more security-oriented mentality in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, world — not only in airports and large cities, but in dorms and on college campuses.

Thomas is originally from Philadelphia and hearing the reservations that his peers have about traveling to big cities doesn’t change his own feelings about security.

“To be honest, I don’t personally feel that if I were to go to New York City or Washington, D.C., that my life is going to be more endangered,” he said.

Kaitlin Hawkins, a Pitt junior whose home is in Cleveland, agrees that safety isn’t a big concern of hers.

“I can remember when I was younger and you could practically walk up to the plane in an airport,” she said. “But the new security has become routine.”

Pitt senior Kevin Newak, on the other hand, said that safety is always in the back of his mind — especially in large cities.

“9/11 has changed the way the country views threats,” he said. “Whether it’s flying or being on a train, people are a lot more aware that there could be a terrorist attack.”

And Sept. 11, 2001, has not only exacerbated safety concerns and political division within the country. It has also magnified cultural differences.

“After 9/11, we have to be more respectful of others,” said Abdul Malik, a graduate student at Pitt. “We can’t think one person is just like the group. And I think in the years after 9/11 people have started to try and understand other beliefs and become more open.”

In most places, including the college setting where Malik welcomes questions by professors and peers regarding his Muslim background, he experiences no noticeable discrimination.

“At times when I’m traveling, my name will get background checked, but as for discrimination on a daily basis, there is very little,” he said.

In the time immediately following the terrorist attacks in 2001, Pitt student Abrar Rageh did notice a negative attention focused on her.

“Now things are calmer,” she said. “But the first few years after [9/11], every look that you got would make you think people thought you were a terrorist.”

As president of Pitt’s Muslim Student Association, Rageh has decided that the best way to combat this type of discrimination is to teach people about her Muslim roots.

“The people that really wanted to know went out there and researched and asked,” she said.