Response to the Events of 9/11/2001

WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
President Karen W. Morse
Message to the Faculty Concerning the University's Role in Responding to the National Tragedy

(Excerpted from the State of the University Address to the Faculty September 20, 2001)

As we begin a new academic year, many of us are understandably having some difficulty bringing our thoughts to the task at hand after the devastation our nation experienced on September 11.

I strive, as many of you do, to resume life as usual.  Most likely we will never do so -- even though our daily routines will reestablish themselves.  And we must live full lives -- in part as a tribute to those our country lost.   In our minds, however, the depth of the tragedy, the emotion and the loss experienced by so many, will always be with us.
Let us remember those whose lives have been lost with a moment of silence.

As part of the long, painful process of coming to grips with the horrible events of last week, it is appropriate to consider our special responsibilities as our students return to campus.
America's colleges and universities are the envy of the world. They occupy a special place in our democracy where intellectual inquiry, free and open dialogue and energetic debate flourish and grow. Our campuses are beacons of liberty and hope, particularly today, when we are engulfed in terrible sadness and face solving complex national problems.
You, who challenge, formulate and forge ideas are key to a more peaceful future.

I ask each of you to reflect on our special responsibilities as we welcome young people back to this campus. I ask you to reach out to them as never before to help them through the uncertainty of the days ahead.  As faculty members and administrators, we must all, first and foremost, be teachers.

In our words and our actions, we must:

• Teach the values of democracy and freedom;
• Teach the importance of citizenship and civic involvement; and
• Teach the indispensable strength and richness of ethnic diversity and religious tolerance.

And I ask you to reach out to each other, as colleagues and friends, to comfort one another and preserve and strengthen all that is so very special here at this university.  We have an unusual opportunity -- which we must seize -- to provide an environment that will help our students grow and mature intellectually and emotionally.  I have confidence that you will accept this challenge and responsibility as part of our mission and in dedication to those who lost their lives in this terrible tragedy.

If last week's events teach us anything, it is that we should commit to making this a more just and peaceful world through the magnificent organization of minds known as the university.  And our anger and grief must not be about ethnicity or religious fervor.  Our anger should be directed at an act by individuals who lost all sense of human perspective or belief in the possibility of peaceful long-lasting solutions.  Through our educational efforts we must maintain that human perspective.

As an institution of higher education, the work that each of us does is more crucial now than ever.  Teaching and learning and critical thinking are powerful contributions to the evolution of a world in which acts of terrorism are inconceivable and where peace and freedom are valued by everyone.

With students returning soon -- with even more reasons to be apprehensive about beginning a new journey and about their own future, we all have a tremendous responsibility to go forth sharing a new resolve for life, as we understand anew its brevity and uncertainty.  And we must not forget that our country and our community face crucial challenges that can divide us -- challenges that will bring a war home as much as the terrorist acts last week.  As you review the curriculum and general education requirements, as you consider your approaches to teaching, no matter what discipline -- physics, sociology, business, art, engineering -- as you reflect on the campus climate to which we all contribute, please consider the immediacy of this challenge.