Brian Jones, features editor

Tomorrow marks 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks. That day left the Berry populace shell-shocked from the national tragedy, while also showing how the campus moved on from struggle. The stories told from that fateful day serve as a reminder that Berry’s community is universally rooted in perseverance and service.

It started out like any other Tuesday. Routine commutes were made to work, TV and radio channels were showing early cartoons and professors were planning out their daily lectures.

Retired Senior Lecturer in Communication and former Student Publications Advisor Kevin Kleine found himself watching Good Morning America (GMA) before commuting to his 9:30 a.m. class.

“I can remember Charlie Gibson, who was the anchor of GMA, and Diane Sawyer, who was the co-anchor,” Kleine said. “I’m hearing these two talking about reports of a plane that has gone into one of the [twin] towers.”

Associate professor of Sociology Dale McConkey said he was mid-commute when he first heard the news.

“I was  filling up my car with gas, and I  heard  an announcement   that [a] plane had crashed  into  one of the towers,” McConkey said. “You just assumed that there was some kind of
terrible accident.”

Advancement Coordinator Jennifer Beard worked in the Alumni Office in 2001. She recalls rushing from the office — Jewel Cottage at the time — to her on-campus home amid the breaking news.

“Mid-morning, we started hearing about reports of something major happening,” Beard said. “We were like, ‘what?’ I lived on campus at the time, so I went home and turned on my TV to see the news coverage to find out what was happening.”

Associate Professor and Department Chair of Communication Curt Hersey was an advisor for the Berry television station, Viking Vision, Hersey said that during the first attack, the building was scrambling.

“Dr. Frank, the department chair at the time, was teaching a class in [Laughlin]113,” Hersey said. “Back then, we had televisions on rolling carts, and he said, ‘Hey, this sounds like something big is happening, you know? Let’s get a television out.’” 

He distinctly remembers where he was when the full gravity of the event was actualized.

“We’re watching, and another plane hits the second building as everyone is watching live,” Hersey said. “At that moment, I remember the broadcast just went silent and, as an audience, you suddenly knew it was not an accident anymore.” 

Hersey began to think about how to move forward as a media team. However, this was a traumatizing event unfolding right in front of their eyes, so he knew to use discretion when adressing these students. He  approached them with a question.

“I asked, ‘Well, what do you guys want to do?’ Hersey said. “‘Do you want to cover this?’ ‘Do you want to go back to your dorm?’ ‘What do you want to do?’. They said, ‘No, we need to cover this.’”

Snapshots of concrete horror rocked the nation as cameras captured the second attack. 

Once the event was confirmed to be a purposeful attack, Kleine wasted no time calling his Campus Carrier staff to cover the breaking news. 

“My mind immediately turns to, I need to get on the phone to some of my lead editors and get them moving on this ASAP, to get photos of local and campus reactions and impacts,” Kleine said. “But not to my surprise, students were already on top of it.”

The Carrier team set out to report on and measure the event’s impact. Students, faculty and staff were all huddled around tube TVs across campus.

“Everybody was in shock,” Beard said. “People were coming to Krannert around lunchtime, and everybody was so quiet and kind of somber. TVs were on everywhere, even in dorm lobbies. Everybody was glued to [a] TV.”

In the wake of the campus’ collective shellshock, Photo Editor for the Carrier Julie Brown took a photo that captured a universal moment in Krannert that morning. 

“That picture encapsulates that moment perfectly on this campus, not just in those people depicted in the photo, but the hundreds of students on campus at that moment,” Kleine said. “They remember that moment to this day, just like I do.”

In Laughlin, Hersey and the communication department continued to watch in disbelief. Hersey uncovered a moment that sticks with him to this day.

“I distinctly remember one of our students, Amanda Dyke,” Hersey said. “She turned to me and she said, ‘Curtis, is this gonna be okay?’ I just had to say, ‘I don’t know.’ I didn’t want to lie.”

As the horrific happenings of the morning turned to afternoon, a campus-wide announcement hit the inboxes of Berry faculty and students.

“Scott Colley, the president at the time, sent out an email saying that early evening, a worship service was going to be held,” McConkey said. “People were coming [in] expecting different things.”

McConkey said that service did not end up going according to Colley’s plan.

“Something that was meant to be very   unifying, where  we’re   all coming  together to   collectively grieve   on   campus, turned  into  an  incredibly   controversial  activity,” McConkey said.

The worship service’s main goal that day was to bring together as many people as possible into the chapel.

In practice, that meant including several different religions into one service.

The event ended up bringing several underlying religious tensions on campus to light, receiving 100 written complaints in response to the gathering.

“Some people found this to be the most powerful religious experience they’ve ever had,” McConkey said. “There were others who were more on the conservative Christian side. They thought, ‘I’m supposed to be worshiping God in a very particular way, and there’s these other religions; we’re in a Christian chapel.’”

All  this controversy and uproar conflicted with Berry’s vision of a unifying afternoon to grieve. Shortly after Sept.11, McConkey was  already thinking of a way to pivot.

“We were a very polarized campus when it came to religious life,” McConkey said. “I was  thinking, how could I be helpful in all this? Is there a way I could be helpful?” 

It didn’t take long until McConkey turned to God for guidance, receiving one word in return.

“I had this religious experience. It was just one word: prepare,” McConkey said. “I immediately interpreted that to prepare to become the chaplain of Berry.”

McConkey stepped into the role almost a year later. Approaching the one-year anniversary of 9/11 in 2002, the chapel took charge, deciding that this service was going to have a sharper focus.

“I [had] been chaplain for all of two months,” McConkey said. “We had another service in the chapel, but we made it really clear what it was going to be: a remembrance.”

The time of the remembrance was purposeful and aimed to honor every life lost during the tragedy.

“We [had the service] right at the time of the first attack, and so we had a moment of silence,” McConkey said. “We [also] got permission to ring the chapel bell 3,004 times.”

The Berry College Interfaith Council is a program at Berry that strives to include all walks of religion on campus. The program emerged around the time of McConkey’s leadership as Chaplain.

“9/11 kind of brought up a wound; a polarization that everyone knew we had, brought to the surface,” McConkey said. “[The IFC] helped us go through a difficult time, defining who we are.”

Two days after the 9/11 attacks, the weekly Carrier was published. In the issue, a vivid message of hope and unity was displayed by the team.

“It was a shining moment for Berry student journalism,” Kevin Kleine

“Those students came together and really performed a vital service to the community, letting them know what was going on. I couldn’t have been prouder.”

The issue is covered with causes and funds to support impacted families in New York. Kleine said the Sept. 13 issue helped raise funds for relief efforts after the attacks.

“There’s a story related to fundraising for firefighters and a disaster relief fund in New York,” Kleine said. “Berry students, faculty and staff contributed, and that ended up being donated to that relief fund in New York City from the Berry community.”

25 years later, remembering 9/11 is still extremely important for the current generation of Berry students. The importance lies in the universal lessons of perseverance and struggle that every human goes through.

Beard said 9/11 serves as a reminder of domestic and foreign threats.

“Sometimes we talk about the “Berry Bubble”, and I think sometimes in America, we kind of live in a bubble thinking everybody gets along; generally speaking,” Beard said. “We don’t want to harm one another or harm other countries or other ways of life. [9/11] shook the notion that we were protected from that.”

Beard then turned that fear into resilience. She said communities around Berry and the country unified after such a tragic loss.

“I remember when President George Bush threw out that pitch at the baseball game, and he just nailed it,” Beard said. “America cheered for that because it made you feel like we can overcome this. We can overcome this tragedy together.”

Hersey said that media had adapted to the effects of 9/11, in terms of who we are as a country and how film reflects that idea.

“In film, we recognize that media had changed in some ways,” Hersey said. “As an example, horror movies changed. [They] are always a reflection of “what are our anxieties?’ ‘What are we afraid of?’ [After 9/11], it became: ‘who around you could be threatening?’”

9/11 was a monumental tragedy; filled with shock, horror, and grief. Communities all over America (including Berry) came together as humans. No matter your differences, perseverance came from collaboration.

Kleine said a lesson this generation can learn from 9/11 lies in Berry’s value of service.

“[Learning about 9/11] can exhibit to students here now on how the community, in difficult, tragic, rough times, can and should come together to support greater causes than themselves,” Kleine said.