Universities Weblog

Today, of course, marks the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Like every other American old enough to remember, I recall where I was when I first heard the news. I had a meeting with the president of the college where I worked; we were devising a communications strategy to respond to the new U.S. News rankings, in which we had dropped a tier. His assistant interrupted to tell us a plane had hit one of the towers. Odd, we thought, but not unheard of. A while later, she broke in again to say that another plane hit and that it was no accident. Rankings, for some reason, suddenly seemed rather meaningless.

The president immediately suggested that the hijackers had to be pilots because no commercial pilot, regardless of the duress, would intentionally hit such a target. He'd sooner crash on the ground and spare lives. The president, we later learned, was correct.

One of the more memorable moments from that day was Andy Card's whispering in George Bush's ear during an elementary school appearance. Card, chief of staff, had to tell Bush that the nation was under attack. A few months later I attended a dinner with Card (he's a former trustee of the college where I worked), and listened to him describe those few terrible moments. Talk about hearing history first hand.

Today, colleges and universities nationwide will commemorate 9/11. It's a solemn occasion, to be sure, and a reminder that this world forever changed five years ago.

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