Daily Eastern News: September 28, 2001 Eastern Illinois University

Eastern Illinois University The Keep September 2001 9-28-2001 Daily Eastern News: September 28, 2001 Eastern Illinois University Follow this and additional works at: http://thekeep.eiu.edu/den_2001_sep Recommended Citation Eastern Illinois University, "Daily Eastern News: September 28, 2001" (2001). September. 19. http://thekeep.eiu.edu/den_2001_sep/19 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the 2001 at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in September by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Friday, September 28, 2001 The Daily Vol. 86 No. 30 EasternNews thedailyeasternnews.com “Tell the truth and don’t be afraid.” State prepared for any possible terrorist attack Editor’s note: This is the second of a were created to ensure that the two-part series about Illinois’ response response to a disaster is as efficient to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the as possible. East Coast. “The complexity of this is some- thing all of us have wrestled with,” By Joseph Ryan Jaehne said. “The web of agencies Associate news editor that deal with (disasters) is complex, and they must function together Fifteen minutes after commer- locally but with national support.” cial airliners were hijacked and IEMA Director Michael rammed into the World Trade Chamness said that Illinois “would Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, have been ready to respond” if an act the Illinois Emergency Operations of terrorism occurred in the state on Center was up and running, con- Sept. 15. tacting national agencies and keep- However, he said that since the ing an eye on the state’s security. attacks, the agency has been work- Amanda Douglass/Senior photographer “That is our biggest strength,” ing to “fine tune” the Emergency What happened is not against Americans; it is against the whole world, said Khaled Abdou, an international said Richard Jaehne, Illinois Fire Operations Plan. student from Egypt (left) before handing the microphone to Arne Kassner, from Germany, Thursday afternoon Service Institute director and liaison “We have been looking at vari- at the International Tea. A panel discussion focused on international students reactions to the Sept. 11 tragedy. to the center. “Our coordination is ous ‘what if ’ scenarios. We look at key. those scenarios and fill in any holes “In a very serious that may exist,” he Students reasured about safety situation like that, you said. “We are also can’t be running around On Alert looking to New York By Caitlin Prendergast and political stance, Saghir said she most concerned about the bad rep- and bumping into each to learn lessons from Staff writer has been trying to correct misinfor- utation his religion has developed other. We have to park & the occurrences there. mation about her homeland; for following the attacks. our egos at the door “We will be pay- and solve the problem.” During Thursday’s International example, dispelling assumptions Abdou, along with fellow Ready for ing close attention.” Since the creation of Tea, a panel of international stu- that Pakistan and Afghanistan are Muslims Saghir and Bhuiyan, Chamness said the Illinois Terrorism the future develop- dents assured a group of concerned one country. stressed to the tea attendants that Attack Task Force in 1999, ment of Illinois’ emer- peers, professors and Charleston Saifur Bhuiyan of Bangladesh Islam is a peaceful, calm religion Illinois has made some progress in gency response plans and initiatives residents that they are shaken but said that people in his native coun- that promotes honesty and truth. preparing for a terrorist attack, but will “shift slightly” from natural feel safe at Eastern following the try feel for the United States. The last student on the panel, state officials agree work still needs concerns to “man-made” hazards as Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Bhuiyan said many people from Arne Kassner, of Germany, said to be done. a result of the East Coast attacks. The “Focus on September 11: A Bangladesh lost their lives in the the attack was especially difficult The Emergency Operations Chamness also heads the Illinois Global View” panel consisted of attack on the World Trade Center, for him because he had just visit- Center, headed by the Illinois Terrorism Task Force, which is four students from Pakistan, including one of his cousins. ed both the World Trade Center Emergency Management Agency, responsible for preparing the state Bangladesh, Egypt and Germany. “Our people sympathize, but and the Pentagon during travels is comprised of liaisons from 19 dif- for acts of terrorism and has been When asked to discuss her we are also victims,” he said. this summer. ferent federal, state and local agen- working to make improvements experience on Sept. 11, Sehr Saghir, The Egyptian member of the “It wasn’t possible to believe cies and operates during any nation- to Illinois’ disaster response struc- of Pakistan, said it was a “very panel, Khaled Abdou, declared the the pictures I saw because the al or state emergency. ture. draining day.” events on Sept. 11 a “terrible, hor- places were fresh in my mind,” The purpose of the center is “for Through state funding, the As an associate resident adviser rible tragedy,” which he related to Kassner said. a central place were all the informa- task force has increased the num- at Weller Hall, she felt obligated to his own experiences with terrorist Although each of the students tion can come together and be ber of level A fire departments, console students on her floor even attacks in Egypt. was apprehensive about speaking shared amongst the different agen- which are specially trained and though she was waiting to hear Abdou spoke of a Muslim for their countries and govern- cies,” Jaehne said. equipped to handle hazardous Directly following the start up of news from her relatives on the East extremist group called the Muslim ments, they were eager to thank materials and operate in signifi- the Emergency Operations Center cant disaster situations. Coast. Brotherhood, who killed many the university for all of the sup- on Sept. 11, IEMA employed the There are currently 27 such “It didn’t even hit me that day innocent Egyptians, including the port and wanted to confirm that, Emergency Operations Plan, which fire departments throughout because I was so busy,” Saghir said. president and a little girl Abdou despite rumors, they have not felt is a response plan for state agencies Illinois, Although she claims to be less knew as a child. any backlash since Sept. 11. in a disaster situation. knowledgeable on Pakistan’s history As a devout Muslim, Abdou was Both the plan and the center See TERROR Page 3 Activist urges audience to speak out for peace, justice By Erika Larson School of Americas is and the reasons his message detailing his past experi- After his military term ended, Bolivia) for all to share and be good Activities editor it should be shut down. ences that contributed to his current Bourgeois said he lived in a slum in stewards of has ended up in the hands Ryan Hendrickson, political sci- role as a human rights activist. Bolivia for five years. of a small few because of militarism, A nationally-known human rights ence professor, introduced Bourgeois, He said the violence, death and “It was here in this slum that I was greed and power.” activist urged an audience of over 200 noting Bourgeois’ involvement in the suffering in Vietnam changed him. educated,” he said. “The poor I was After being forced out of the people to speak out for peace and jus- United States military as a naval offi- “Vietnam became a turning there to serve became my teachers.” country, he said he returned to the tice Thursday night in Buzzard cer, his ordainment as a Catholic point,” he said. “For the first time I He said it angered him to see the United States where he learned of the Auditorium. priest, his work with the poor in began to question this whole issue of United States supporting a dictator injustice in El Salvador. Roy Bourgeois, founder and co- South America for the past 30 years violence.” there as a very small elite held the He said he and friends found in El director of the School of Americas and the four years he spent in prison He said he then began to see hope power and the poor struggled to sur- Salvador a military at war with its Watch, delivered a calm but passion- for his involvement in non-violent in non-violence, adopting the peaceful vive. people. ate message to Eastern students, fac- protests against the SOA. philosophies of Muhatma Ghandi, The U.S. is exploiting the country, “What we also found was our own ulty, staff and community members Bourgeois, originally from Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dorothy Bourgeois said. explaining his views on what the Louisiana, spent the first portion of Day. “What has been put here (in See SPEAK OUT Page 3 2 Friday, September 28, 2001 CampusThe Daily Eastern News The Daily Eastern CAA looks at logos Ensembles this weekend News By Pat Guinane The Daily Eastern News is published daily, Administration editor By Kimberlee Boise “We play some well known things, like Monday through Friday, in Charleston, Ill., Staff writer Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’” Mayhue said. during fall and spring semesters and twice weekly during the summer term except dur - Student support services logos came one step closer to The Midwestern Funk Factory, part of ing school vacations or making their way onto course syllabuses Thursday when Eastern’s music department is kicking the Panther Marching Band, will also per- examinations, by the stu - dents of Eastern Illinois the Council on Academic affairs lent its support to the off the year with two free ensemble con- form some cadences written by Lane and University.

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