By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER A “teach-in” by a panel of five Manhattan College faculty members offered a stark contrast from the previous day’s presentation by distinguished alumni engineers who were involved in helping out at Ground Zero. Both events were part of the college’s We Remember 10-year anniversary commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Dr. Thomas Ferguson, associate professor of religious studies, entitled his presentation “It’s Not about US” and began with a quote from a Susan Sontag piece in the New Yorker: “By all means, let us grieve together, but let us not be stupid together.” Unfortunately, he said, she was right on both counts. He cited as jingoism the chanting of “USA, USA at every opportunity.” He complained of a “reckless foreign policy” resulting from “phantasmal patriotism” and disputed the claim that the 9/11 attacks were “an attack on freedom.” “The 9/11 terrorists did not attack freedom,” he said. “They attacked specific targets—financial, military, and governmental.” These targets, he said, had “nothing to do with us.” “The aim of the terrorist is, first and foremost, to spread terror, and they did this in our case.” Dr. Carolyn Predmore, professor of marketing, spoke of comfort and preparedness in her warm and personal talk on “Re-dedication to Service and Community.” A “camp-trained Girl Scout leader,” she shared tips like keeping cell phones charged, parking face-out for an easier getaway and establishing a place to meet in emergencies. “We closed
ranks and folded into our community,” she said in describing how she and her classes handled the tragic day ten years ago. “Community can get us through” was her approach. “My door is open when I’m here. Come on up, take a seat and set awhile.” Her message was, “You have an opportunity every day to decide the person that you’re going to be….Reach out, and we’ll all be here.” Dr. Adam Koehler, assistant professor of English, named his talk “If You’re Not With Us, You’re Against Us: Notes on a Pedagogy of Opposition.” His analysis grappled with “rhetorical identity” and dubbed war an “abstract noun.” Tony Canale, adjunct instructor of civil and environmental engineering, spoke about the “‘Re-Affirmation of Civil Engineer’s Role in Society.” He began with a slide dedicating his presentation to “the memory of those who lost their lives as a result of the attack of September 11.” For Canale, the event was “a very public attack” that affected him “in a very personal way.” He considered the twin towers among “the most inspirational structures even built.” He confided that he had proposed to his wife at Windows on the World and learned about gravity first-hand after a physics professor suggested students ride the elevators in one of the towers and weigh themselves during the ride. He pointed out that “engineering is a constant battle against nature” and that what struck him about 9/11 was that “engineers became leaders.” “This is really what engineering is. This is why we’re here . We’re here to provide guidance and to help out in a
time of crisis.” Dr. Jeff Horn, professor and chair of history, tackled “The Patriot Act and Civil Liberties: Ten Years Later.” Polished and concise, he acknowledged that perhaps we are now safer in the wake of the 9/11 attacks but that our civil liberties are less safe, although the situation is improving. In the course of his presentation, he demonized John Ashcroft and George W. Bush for their roles in history, and he remains “pessimistic about the future of civil liberties.” The concluding slide showed a quote by his “favorite founding father,” Benjamin Franklin: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
3 The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, September 15, 2011
Manhattan College profs take different view of 9/11