to 
promoting 
the 
ideas 

of 
free 
enterprise, 
limited 

government 
and 
a 
strong 

national defense. Stanchina 
said his group’s objectives 
highlight the importance of 
commemorating 9/11.

“The ideas that we like to 

bring to campus, the speakers 
and the topics we like to 
embrace 
and 
have 
spoken 

about, those are the reasons 
that the attack occurred,” he 

said. “We feel a special duty to 
commemorate.”

Captain 
Chris 
Dennis, 

professor of Naval Science 
and Commanding Officer of 
the Navy Officer Education 
Program, said the events from 
9/11 affected not only the 
United States but also the rest 
of the world, and the act of 
remembering and reflecting 
upon it should unite people 
across the globe.

“Everybody’s heart broke 

and there was an outpouring of 
love and support for the United 
States, and I think really for 

humanity,” he said. “That for 
me is what is special about 9/11. 
That spirit of togetherness 
and 
suffering 
together 

and 
reclaiming 
humanity 

together.”

Dennis 
also 
said 
the 

simplicity 
of 
Sunday’s 

commemoration is the most 
powerful agent for getting 
people to reflect on the tragedy.

“It’s fairly understated,” he 

said. “I hope people stop and 
remember the vulnerability of 
life and redouble their efforts 
to work together with one 
another.”

receiving 
emails 
from 

concerned 
family 
members 

across the country.

In post-9/11 and a post-

Brussels 
Europe, 
this 
is 
a 

scenario has played out over and 
over — families contacting loved 
ones abroad or wondering, “What 
if it was my son or daughter?” at 
home. Amid mounting terrorist 
attacks in Germany, France, 
Britain, Turkey, Belgium, Russia 
and Spain, reports warning 
foreign students to avoid places 
like shopping malls, schools, 
airports and other forms of 
public 
transportation 
are 

increasingly common.

On 
May 
31, 
the 
U.S. 

Department 
of 
State 
issued 

a warning specifically about 
traveling in Europe between 
that 
date 
and 
August 
3, 

telling 
travelers 
to 
be 
on 

alert 
for 
potential 
terrorist 

attacks 
targeting 
major 

events, commercial areas and 
transportation.

“The large number of tourists 

visiting Europe in the summer 
months will present greater 
targets for terrorists planning 
attacks 
in 
public 
locations, 

especially at large events,” the 
alert read.

The 
Department 
of 
State 

wasn’t wrong. Three weeks 
before the stabbing in London, 
a truck was driven into crowds 
celebrating Bastille Day, killing 
at least 84 people and leaving 18 
others wounded in the French 
Riviera city of Nice.

Amid 
this 
atmosphere, 

the 
Center 
for 
Global 
and 

Intercultural Study, the office 
that coordinates most study 
abroad 
programs 
for 
LSA 

students, sent about 650 to 700 
University of Michigan students 
abroad this summer.

LSA 
junior 
Margaret 

O’Connor 
was 
among 
13 

University 
students 
studying 

abroad in Germany through 
the Center of Intercultural and 
Global Studies at the time. She 
wrote in an email interview that 
she was eager to experience the 
culture first-hand and exercise 
her language skills in a way that 
would be impossible to do in the 
United States.

“Because both of my sisters 

attended (the University) and 
studied abroad, I’ve envisioned 
myself doing the same for a few 
years,” O’Connor wrote. “I’ve 
studied German for several 
years in high school and later 
took intensive German in the 
(Residential College), so going 
there made a lot of sense for me.”

O’Connor was traveling across 

Berlin on the underground with 
two of her friends on the night of 
a popular soccer game. The train 
was fairly crowded and rowdy, 
with many passengers from the 
game.

While 
waiting 
for 
their 

connecting train, O’Connor and 
her friends heard three small 
explosions that sounded like 
they were coming from the train 
car. People began to scream, 
and 
O’Connor 
immediately 

believed she was in the center of 
a terrorist attack.

“It took about a minute for us 

to realize it was only fireworks 
some excited sports fan had lit 
off, but the feeling of pure terror 

we 
experienced 
was 
really 

rattling,” O’Connor wrote. “It 
made me really sad and angry 
that we live in a world where 
attacks like this are almost 
expected, and could happen 
anywhere to anyone.”

When 
recollecting 
the 

experience, 
O’Connor 
wrote 

that she wondered whether they 
reacted the way they did because 
they were abroad, and news of 
the dangers abroad has been 
anything but understated. She 
noted, however, that she did not 
believe her family and friends 
would have deterred her from 
going abroad and that for her, 
there was no perceived threat 
regarding her visit to Germany.

“Shortly after we came home, 

however, Munich was struck 
by more gun violence, and I felt 
weirdly connected to it because 
it happened right in the middle 
of the city not far from where 
we spent most of our time,” 
O’Connor wrote.

For 
O’Connor, 
potentially 

dangerous 
situations 
alone 

wouldn’t 
deter 
her 
from 

an 
enriching 
educational 

experience, 
but 
she 
added 

that it would certainly be a 
consideration if she were to go 
on a future trip.

Speaking 
to 
programs 
in 

France in particular, Rachel 
Reuter, the health and safety 
adviser for CGIS, said despite 
mounting 
terrorist 
reports 

from the country, the number 
of students applying to study 
abroad has steadily increased 
over the past several years. CGIS 
reported the numbers of their 
Winter application cycle showed 
23 applications in 2014, 33 in 
2015, and so far this year more 
than 62 students have applied to 
study in France.

LSA senior Mallory Jamett 

said she chose the Arts in Paris 
program because it was the 
best opportunity that worked 
within her art history major. 
Her parents were nervous about 
her decision, but Jamett believes 
they would have been hesitant 
regardless of where she chose to 
study.

“The Paris attacks were fresh 

on everyone’s mind, but since U 
of M hadn’t canceled any other 
study abroad programs to that 
area, my parents didn’t see any 
large cause for alarm,” Jamett 
said.

Jamett 
was 
watching 

fireworks on the lawn by the 
Eiffel Tower during the Bastille 
Day terrorist attack in Nice. 
Upon returning to the home 
of the French family she was 
living with, Jamett checked 
her phone for the first time 
that night. It was flooded with 
concerned 
messages 
asking 

where she was, asking if she 
was OK. After checking Twitter, 
Jamett learned that a truck had 
intentionally driven into the 
celebrating crowd.

Jamett said this attack came 

as a nasty shock to French 
citizens 
and 
study 
abroad 

members alike, but she wasn’t 
that surprised.

“The strange thing was, I 

didn’t find it terribly shocking, 
and I think it was because I had 
been desensitized to violent 
attacks from the U.S. With so 
many mass shootings and violent 
crimes, as a culture, America 
sees this violence much more 
often than France,” Jamett said. 

“I recognize that this tragedy 
caused lots of people fear and 
grief, but at the same time, I 
could only recognize the effect 
of it. I felt very little of these 
emotions myself.”

CGIS Director Mike Jordan 

said the swell in applications, 
despite the changed atmosphere, 
speaks to the strength of the 
programs and the mindsets 
of the students seeking those 
opportunities.

“If you look at something 

like what happened in Brussels, 
three 
students 
backed 
out 

but one was unrelated to the 
attacks, so two students out of 21 
withdrew,” Jordan said.

In 
Jamett’s 
22-person 

program, 
participants 
were 

University 
students 
from 
a 

variety of majors.

“I consider the U.S. to be 

dangerous; the entire world is 
filled with risks. It’s a matter of if 
that area is an active war zone,” 
Jamett said. “If the area that I 
want to study in is particularly 
violent, then I would definitely 
reconsider studying there, but 
to rule out an area purely due to 
fear would be shortsighted.”

Jordan, the junior studying 

at Oxford, expressed a similar 
sentiment, citing the color-coded 
terrorism threat advisory scale 
— an alert system for travelers 
post- 9/11 through Homeland 
Security. The different levels, 
beginning with green, which 
signifies a low threat, and 
ending with red, indicating a 
severe threat, trigger specific 
actions by federal agencies and 
state and local governments, and 
impact the security measures at 
some airports and other public 
facilities.

“It seems like for a year or 

more the risk color was orange,” 
Jordan recalled. “You cannot 
just live in constant fear.”

When a real emergency hits, 

Reuter said CGIS has various 
measures in place to reach 
out to students and reassure 
families. 
The 
department 

has 10 emergency responders 
available to attend to the 24/7 
emergency phone line. It also 
requires students, staff and 
faculty abroad to put location 
and contact data into their 
international 
travel 
registry. 

When circumstances become 
dangerous in a particular region, 
Reuter and her team hop online.

“I start contacting them via 

email, cell phone, Facebook, 
WhatsApp, however we can get 
a response,” Reuter said.

Due to the large numbers of 

students within LSA, Reuter 
said it is the only college with a 
position like hers. Through the 
Office of the Provost, another 
senior 
international 
health 

adviser is in place.

“We have partners on the 

ground throughout the world 
that provide logistical support 
for our programs,” Jordan said. 
“They have policies where once 
the students have all checked in 
with them, they’ll notify us. And 
I think that alleviates a lot of 
parents’ fears.”

Reuter 
also 
stressed 
the 

importance of registering side 
trips — any supplementary travel 
during a study abroad — through 
MCompass.

“I don’t care if you’re on a side 

trip in Amsterdam or drunk on 
a beach in Mexico, my goal is to 
make sure you’re safe,” she said.

ABROAD
From Page 1A

paint a picture of Americans 

rallying around each other, 
concerned and even distrustful 
of some groups of foreigners,” 
the report says.

Communications 
Prof. 

Michael Traugott and Political 
Science 
Prof. 
Ted 
Brader, 

researchers of this study, could 
not be reached for comment on 
the report.

LSA 
junior 
Grant 
Strobl, 

chairman of the University’s 
chapter of Young Americans 
for Freedom, helped stake 2,977 
flags on the Diag as part of the 
9/11: Never Forget Project to 
remember the lives lost during 
the attacks. He said he thought 
it was important to continue to 
recognize the impact 9/11 had.

“The freshmen coming to the 

University of Michigan weren’t 
even in kindergarten when 9/11 
happened, so it’s important 
that we remember and remind 
students how vulnerable our 
country was on that day and the 
fact that our way of life is still at 
risk,” Strobl said.

Vulnerability 
was 
another 

common facet of public opinion 
after 9/11 — the ISR survey also 
found that many Americans 
suffered a loss of personal safety 
and security. The survey report 
stated that about half of its 
respondents said their personal 
sense of safety and security was 
reduced “a great deal” or “a good 
amount.”

Frost 
recalled 
having 
to 

complete extensive safety drills 
in her New York school following 
the attacks, such as practicing 
getting underneath the desk or 
rushing to the school gym.

Arab and Muslim Americans 

have also been at a higher risk 
of hate crimes since the attacks, 
according to the FBI Hate 
Crimes Statistics reports, which 
note anti-Islamic hate crimes 
have increased from less than 2 
percent in 2000 to more than 16 
percent in 2014.

Evelyn 
Alsultany, 
director 

of Arab and Muslim American 
Studies, 
who 
teaches 
the 

course “Why Do They Hate Us: 
Perspectives on 9/11,” wrote in 
an email interview that political 
responses to the attacks — such 
as U.S. involvement in the Iraq 
War — led to an increase in 
anti-Arab 
and 
anti-Muslim 

sentiments 
following 
the 

attacks, which continue to exist 
to this day.

“Saying that the cause of 

terror is Islam is simplistic and 
inaccurate,” Alsultany wrote. 
“That is not to say that Islam has 
nothing to do with it when these 
are self proclaimed Muslims in 
the case of ISIS and al-Qaeda, 
but that it is not the origin or 
cause of terrorism. If it were, 
then 1.6 billion Muslims could 
be involved in terrorism, instead 
of a small fraction.”

In the past year, Muslim- 

and Arab-American students 
at the University have gathered 
to 
participate 
in 
a 
speak-

out 
regarding 
Islamophobic 

remarks, and feeling targeted 

on campus. One recent example 
includes chalkings on the Diag 
last 
March 
stating 
remarks 

such as “Stop Islam,” prompting 
a statement from University 
President Mark Schlissel calling 
for a campus-wide need to 
respect all students.

“What Islamophobia reveals 

is an inability to understand 
that the 1.6 billion Muslims 
of the world are people like 
any other people — consisting 
of a range of experiences and 
characteristics,” 
Alsultany 

wrote.

History Lecturer Jonathan 

Marwil said.the attacks have 
a wide array of consequences, 
from health impacts for those 
who could have breathed in the 
debris or dust from the site, to 
changes in political and military 
relationships 
with 
different 

nations, to broader cultural 
implications in American music 
and literature.

“The 
consequences 

internationally have so far been 
huge, 
considerable,” 
Marwil 

said. “And there’s no evidence to 
suggest that those consequences 
are going to diminish in the 
foreseeable future.”

Despite having experienced 

the attacks firsthand, Frost said 
said she finds herself forgetting 
more 
and 
more 
of 
what 

happened on Sept. 11 as the years 
go by, though she hopes for more 
remembrance events to keep the 
significance prominent.

“Our national security was 

completely robbed from us, and 
I think that affects all citizens 
still,” Frost said.

SEPTEMBER
From Page 1A

me when I entered adulthood, 

to experience this tragedy,” 
she said. “From the top of the 
carillon tower at Yale, you could 
see the smoke from the Twin 
Towers. I think it deserves 
commemorating and living on in 
our memories every year.”

Collins said he appreciated 

the 
overall 
effect 
of 
the 

memorial, and was surprised by 
the number of people who came 
to listen.

“I 
was 
really 
impressed 

with 
the 
overall 
program, 

standing down in the plaza and 
listening to that,” he said. “I was 
impressed with the number of 
folks that showed up. They came 
and went, but there were a fair 
number of folks who just stayed 
out there on the plaza. I think 
that showed a lot of respect. I’m 
thankful for Tiffany and the 

University doing that.”

Ng also said part of the event’s 

success was owed to the quality 
of the instrument, adding that 
she hopes to continue this 
memorial on Sept. 11 in years to 
come.

“These English bells, cast in 

1935 in Loughborough, England 
have a very deep, resonant and 
mournful sound that’s perfect 
for 
memorial 
repertoire, 
I 

think,” she said. “It works just 
so well here.”

CONCERT
From Page 2A

get to perform during our 

semesterly concerts in Hill 
Auditorium,” he said. “We 
really enjoy them, they’re all 
beautiful, moving pieces and 
very personal, obviously, for us 
as a group at the University of 
Michigan.”

Kiessling said he is hoping 

for lyrics that highlight the 
best parts of the University.

“We are looking for lyrics 

that 
help 
celebrate 
the 

University, the fact that it has 
remained such an incredible 
location 
and 
avenue 
of 

opportunity for so many for 
the past 200 years,” he said.

He said another important 

requirement for the lyrics is 
the inclusion of the three main 
ideals of the Glee Club, which 
are tradition, camaraderie and 
musical excellence. However, 
he added that beyond these 
requirements, there’s a large 
range of possibilities for the 

song.

“These 
lyrics 
are 
fairly 

open-ended as well, so we look 
forward to seeing all of the 
different 
submissions 
we’ll 

receive, and all the creativity 
that the University of Michigan 
tends to foster,” Kiessling said.

Kuster 
echoed 
his 

sentiments.

“Because our lyrics will 

come 
from 
U-M-affiliated 

writers, we also expect we’ll 
be 
moved 
by 
something 

beautifully 
and 
brilliantly 

unexpected,” she said.

GLEE
From Page 3A

FLAGS
From Page 3A

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

LSA junior Sivanthy Vasanthan speaks with passerbys about the student organization South Asian 
Awareness Network during Festifall on the Diag on Friday.

FESTIFALL

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, September 12, 2016 — 7A

