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No one untouched as BU reacts to terrorist attacks

In the aftermath of national tragedy, members of the Boston University community have united to support the worried and the bereaved, to donate blood, to pray, and as best they can, to resume the normal flow of life on campus.

As news began to break shortly before 9 a.m. on September 11 of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., students, faculty, and staff stopped what they were doing and gathered to watch the horrific television broadcasts -- at the George Sherman Union, in offices, in residence hall lounges, and at local businesses such as Radio Shack.

	Los Angeles Kings scout Mark Bavis (CAS'93) was returning to the West Coast on United Airlines Flight 175 for the start of the team's training camp.

The following day the tension continued; as the B.U. Bridge was going to press, an FBI SWAT team arrested at least three terrorist suspects after storming the Westin Hotel Copley Place in downtown Boston.

The University's counseling and pastoral staff quickly responded to shaken students and employees, many of whom were distraught because they could not get through crowded phone lines to contact family and friends. A phone bank was set up in the George Sherman Union for anyone needing to make a long-distance call, and the building remained open throughout the night with televisions on.

Boston Medical Center was among the hospitals prepared to mobilize personnel in the event that New York hospitals needed help treating patients, but on Wednesday the hospital received word that no patients would be transferred there. Meanwhile, numerous blood drives have been set up in the Boston area.

BU records show that hundreds of alumni worked at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and several already are known to have lost their lives in the tragedies. Among them is Tom McGuinness (CAS'81) of Portsmouth, N.H., the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, the first of the two aircraft to hit the World Trade Center. McGuinness was married, with two children.

Brian Sweeney (ENG'85) called his family and told them that his plane had been hijacked minutes before United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center.

Among the other casualties are former hockey forward Mark Bavis (CAS'93), a scout with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, former football defensive end Brian Sweeney (ENG'85), and Carlos Monty (GSM'99, GRS'99). All three were passengers on United Airlines Flight 175.

"He was a great guy," says BU Hockey Coach Jack Parker of Bavis, from Roslindale, Mass. "This is a hard hit for our program. He was a terrific player for four years here." Bavis' twin brother and former teammate Mike (CAS'93), is an assistant hockey coach at BU. "It's hard to conceive of one without the other," says Parker. "They were always the Bavis twins. They were so close; they were going to play together no matter what. When you recruited a Bavis, you recruited the whole family."

Sweeney is a Spencer, Mass., native who lived in Barnstable, Mass. Monty, a native of Bogota, Colombia, lived in Belmont, Mass., and worked for Thomson Financial in Boston. "Carlos was a solid student," says CAS International Relations Professor Strom Thacker. "He was outgoing, cheerful, and friendly."

Everyone, it seems, has or knows someone with personal connections to New York City and Washington, D.C. Yet along with news of tragic loss there were stories of miraculous, life-saving happenstance. Katie Juhasz, assistant to the editor at Bostonia, has a brother whose office was at the World Trade Center, but he was in Connecticut on a business trip. Nick Pinheiro, an associate analyst/consultant for University Relations, tells of an aunt en route to a conference at a hotel near the World Trade Center who was not heard from until 10 p.m. because she had been unable to find a working phone. She was on board a train to Manhattan when commuter rail service was suspended. After sitting on the stopped train for hours, she got out and walked several miles to a friend's house in Brooklyn, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge with hundreds of other stranded New Yorkers. Meanwhile, Pinheiro says, "my father was going crazy."

University chaplains and members of the Counseling Center worked in tandem throughout the day, communicating by cell phone. They met with students in their residence halls and approached students at the GSU and elsewhere to let them know help was available.

A room in the basement of Marsh Chapel was set aside for private prayer, and University chaplains were on call at the chapel throughout the day. Chaplains also held Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Islamic worship services at different locations on campus, and a prayer vigil on Wednesday evening on Marsh Plaza. At press time, counselors were available at the GSU and Marsh Chapel around the clock for an indefinite period.

New York natives make up a large proportion of BU's student and alumni population, increasing the likelihood that many students know at least one victim. "It's too early to know how direct the impact is going to be on our student body," says Leah Fygetakis, Counseling Center director, "but the ripples are going to be big." She notes that numerous faculty and staff trained in crisis management are coming to the aid of students.

Bonnie Teitleman, director of the Faculty/Staff Assistance Program, says she is hearing "a lot of concern for students, shock, anger, and outrage. People are incredibly upset emotionally. It sort of reminds me of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It's a life-changing event, and people are just trying to absorb it. I know some employees who are very closely affected by this."

Classes were held as scheduled. In an official statement transmitted by e-mail to the University community, President Jon Westling urged everyone to remain calm, noting that there is "no reason to believe that there is any threat to any Boston University students, faculty, or staff, or to any Boston University facilities. To the extent possible, we must try not to let those who resort to criminal violence set the agenda."

David J. Craig, Brian Fitzgerald, and Hope Green contributed to this report.

14 September 2001
Boston University
Office of University Relations