As terror and despair swept over the nation, the fear caused by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 was felt here at ETSU.
When Stephanie Harris, a sophomore interior design major, woke up on Tuesday morning, she began the day as usual.
When Harris arrived at class, she heard rumors about plans hitting the World Trade center, but the thought of terrorists did not cross her mind. It wasn’t until a technology professor in Wilson-Wallis Hall came in to class and said classes were cancelled and for everyone to go home that she knew something was wrong.
Harris returned to her residence hall room and turned the TV on to the many reports of the “Attack on America.” She said her jaw dropped and the first words out of her mouth were “Oh my God!”
Like many others, Harris is angry. She knows the United States will have to retaliate.
“They have two options. They can find them and kill them or just find them and make them suffer,” she said. “I don’t know what I would do. I’m just glad I’m not in the position to decide.”
Many fears have crossed her mind. Harris has a boyfriend who is a junior at ETSU and she is afraid that if a war takes place, he can be drafted.
Harris is from Powell, which is close to the National Laboratories at Oak Ridge. Her entire family is there and she fears an attack at the facility.
Sentiments of feeling like a movie was happening were felt, but Harris acknowledged that the tragedy was real when she saw a little girl, who was crying and bloody, on TV. That is when it hit her that the attack was a real-life event. “I felt like I was there,” she said.

Author