A few minutes after 6 p.m. on September 11, a telephone rang in Communications and Development. It was Professor Henry Rutz calling from New York, and the mere sound of his voice brought a burst of cheers and tears to those gathered on the other end.
While administrators and staff members in the President's, Dean of the Faculty and Dean of Students offices dealt with the immediate concerns of students on campus, a core of people in Communications and Development spent the day waiting by the phones for word from the 14 students in the New York City Program and their on-site coordinator, Henry Rutz, professor of anthropology. As a small television in the background brought the first devastating images of the terrorist attacks, one by one confirmations came in that everyone in the Hamilton program was safe and accounted for.
"By 5:30 we had heard from all of the students," said Sharon Rippey, director of media relations. "Henry was the last to contact us since he was working on his end to locate the students, many of whom were scattered throughout the city at their internship sites. The fact that we were able to track down everyone in about nine hours was remarkable."
Although Rutz and his students were safe, many questions remained. Housing and transportation needed to be coordinated since their Battery Park apartment building, located just eight blocks from the World Trade Center, was closed. Several of the students had no identification, money or credit cards with them when they were evacuated. Rippey, along with fellow C&Ders Sue Donegan, Holly Foster and Stacey Himmelberger, and Andrea Habbel, assistant to the vice president for academic affairs, maintained regular telephone contact with the students and their families until everyone was able to return home or find temporary housing before coming back to campus later in the week (personally chauffeured by Nancy Thompson, senior associate dean of students, and Andrew Jillings, adventure program coordinator, who drove a van to the city to pick up the stranded students and professor).
Bob Kazin, director of counseling and psychological services, along with counselors Jan Fisher and Brenda Marris and Judith Owens-Manley from the Resource Center for Human Services, met with Rutz and the students after the group reunited on campus on Saturday, September 15. The counselors conducted a "critical incident stress debriefing." The group was asked to describe where they were when the planes hit the World Trade Center, what they heard, smelled, tasted and what they did. Next, they explored how they felt, both in the group session and in individual counseling sessions the following days.
"As much as I was prepared to hear their stories, I was surprised by how intense the experience was for them. The qualitative difference between what we all saw on our televisions and what they witnessed was much greater than I expected," Kazin said. "Many of them were so close to the disaster, they didn't know if they would live through it."
"What we all did as a campus was truly overwhelming," he added. "It was very emotional for me when I told the students on the New York program that there are people here who you've never met who did a whole lot for you."
From panel discussions to a candlelight vigil to a peace rally and collections for the families of the victims, Hamilton employees from all corners of campus joined with the rest of the nation to help and begin the healing process. Here are just a few of the many examples:
• Within an hour of the terrorist attacks, employees from all corners of campus mobilized their staffs to offer assistance. The Dean of the Faculty, Dean of Students and President's offices coordinated communication with students and employees by e-mail, as well as an information session held in the Chapel that afternoon. Classes were held as scheduled so that professors had an opportunity to discuss the situation and address student concerns. Counselors made themselves available throughout campus, especially in the residence halls, offering support to students worried about family and friends. The residential life staff met with resident advisors asking them to be aware of students on their floors who might need individual counseling.
The list of those who took care of the details goes on and on. Tim Hicks, director of audiovisual classroom services, and his staff immediately set up televisions throughout campus so everyone could watch the events unfold. In food service, Annmarie Rossomano and the Bon Appetit crew set up food and water stations near the televisions and put out paper plates at the dining facilities so students could grab food on the go.
"In every office people thought about what they could do to help and just did it," said Nancy Thompson, senior associate dean of students. "It was a heartening thing at a devastating time. We really are a community that pulls together."
• Pat Ingalls, director of campus safety, along with safety officers Jim Cecil and Craig Burnop contributed ribbons for distribution on campus and as far away as the New York City police department where Ingalls' son, Shawn, is an officer. Since the disaster, he has been working 16-18 hours a day providing security at a downtown hospital, the Lincoln Tunnel and the Stock Exchange. "Like so many people, he only wishes he could be doing more," Ingalls said.
• Three days after the attacks, Shoshana Keller, associate professor of history, joined colleagues Russell Blackwood, emeritus professor of philosophy, Tolga Koker, visiting assistant professor of economics, Yael Aronoff, assistant professor of government, and Steve Orvis, associate professor of government, in organizing an open forum attended by more than 150 members of the campus community. Topics ranged from cautions about blaming innocent Arab and Muslim Americans for the attacks to discussions about the questions and policy dilemmas facing U.S. policymakers.
"A number of people thanked me afterward for helping them get a little clearer sense as to why this happened and the underlying issues that would cause people to hate the United States so much," Keller said. "People seemed comforted by having a source of information and a place to ask questions."
Keller has been continuing the dialogue by hosting an information discussion in the Levitt Center and, along with Lisa Trivedi, assistant professor of history, submitting brief facts about the Middle East for publication in The Daily Bull. This spring, Keller will offer Modern Middle Eastern History in place of another course she was scheduled to teach. "Students are much more interested in learning about the Middle East now than they had been in the past," she added.
• On September 25, nearly 100 members of the Hamilton community participated in a blood drive sponsored by the Inter Society Council. Among the donors were Linda Michels and Kelly Walton, both staff assistants in the office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty. The pair has given blood together about a dozen times.
"It's nice that the College encourages employees to participate by bringing blood drives to campus. With kids and a busy schedule, it would be difficult for me to give blood in the evenings," Walton said. "My 8-year-old daughter has become more interested in the Red Cross and the importance of giving blood after watching the news on television. I put on my 'I gave blood today' sticker right away so she would be proud of her mom."
• Members of Counseling and Psychological Services have only recently begun seeing an influx of students seeking counseling about their feelings toward the tragedy. This came as little surprise to counselor Jan Fisher, who believes that students were simply too numb to begin dealing with their trauma.
"It takes time for people to really process what happened and begin talking about it," she said. "We're now hearing stories from students whose parents have attended more than a dozen funerals and memorial services for friends and coworkers. One student's father worked with 50 people who died."
Fisher's advice is for people to return, as much as possible, to life as normal. "Getting back to a routine is important," she added.
• In physical plant, Norm Bramley, master maintenance mechanic, started a collection among co-workers which was pooled with the more than $2,750 raised by the Gamma Xi sorority.
• In the days following the attacks, names of alumni confirmed to be safe by their classmates were posted on the alumni page of the Hamilton Web site. To date nearly 700 names are listed, along with the unfortunate news that three alumni, Art Jones '86, Adam Lewis '87 and Sylvia San Pio Resta '95, are missing and presumed dead.
"Our office began receiving calls almost immediately from alumni asking how to contact their Hamilton classmates whom they knew worked or lived in harm's way," said Jennifer Potter Hayes, director of alumni programs. "Hamilton is a closely-knit community, a family. This tragedy demonstrated the depth of the life-long friendships that develop while students are here on the Hill. It has been a grim two weeks as details of the survivors, the missing and their families are reported to the office. It saddens us all."
• During the Service of Remembrance held in the Chapel on September 14, Father John Croghan, Newman chaplain, concluded the prayers and readings by sharing memories of children who survived the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995. "The lesson we learn from the kids is that healing takes time, and they needed each other to do it," Croghan said. "There is no 'quick fix,' especially as we wait to learn more about what the country's response will be."
At the end of his message, Father Croghan invited those packed in the pews to acknowledge each other by hugging the people around them. "We needed to be close to each other then, and we need it now," he added. "In times of crisis, it's easier for us to let down our guard and admit that we are vulnerable. The way to get through this is to support each other."
Photo: Kelly Walton and Linda Michels (standing) of the dean's office did their part by giving blood during the recent drive on campus.
