Offended by Insensitivity to Sept. 11th

Mike Pastore COM ’03

“Why on earth should study abroad become less popular in the wake of a tragedy that killed a few thousand New Yorkers and Washingtonians sitting in their offices and a few hundred airline passengers?”-Anthony Patt What an extremely insensitive view of the events of September 11th. Assistant Professor Anthony Patt feels the need to trivialize the deaths of thousands of Americans, who in his words, were just “sitting in their offices.” He completely ignored the firefighters and police officers who died in the rescue effort, and the thousands of families who lost loved ones, in an attempt to support the study abroad program. Who needs compassion for fellow Americans when you could be surfing in Australia or enjoying the benefits of a lower drinking age in Europe? I’m not trying to say that the study abroad program isn’t a valuable experience, but Assistant Professor Patt doesn’t seem to understand why some Americans feel it is important to stay within the United States during this year. For some of us, it’s not simply fear of flying or being a victim of a terrorist attack, it’s out of support for our country. As important as it is to have an outside perspective on what is going on in our country, it is just as important to understand what is going on inside. September 11th happened barely six months ago, some of us have not become as callous and unsympathetic as Patt seems to be of the deaths of our fellow Americans.