New assault reported; second in six days by Anastasia Crosson Staff Writer
A sexual assault reportedly occurred in the early morning hours Sunday near Campus Village. According to an SJSU Safety Alert sent to students and members of the campus community, the sexual assault occurred at approximately 1:56 a.m.
SPARTAN DAILY
Monday September 12, 2011 Volume 137, Issue 7
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on Sunday off-campus in the area near Ninth and E. San Salvador streets. The incident is still under investigation by the San Jose Police Department and additional details have yet to be released. This is the second reported sexual assault on or nearby campus in the
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Spartan Daily
Serving San José State University since 1934 Volume 137 / Issue 7
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Remembering 9/11
Above: Daniel Matthews (right) plays taps on the trumpet while SJSU President Mohammad Qayoumi reflects outside of the Music building during Sunday’s Into Light 9/11 memorial concert. Photo by K.L. Perry / Spartan Daily
Victims remembered through music, dance p. 3 Students tell stories from 9/11/2001 Online Muslims reach out to Bay Area community Online
10 years later: Muslim students reflect upon life after tragedy
Media parade masks political crises p. 5 Ailing nation must move beyond scars p. 5 Rediscovering how sports helped us heal p. 6
SJSU honors alumnus, Flight 93 Capt. Dahl by Chris Marian Staff Writer
by Brittany Patterson Staff Writer
Shafayat Hussain, a biomedical engineering graduate student at SJSU, will never forget where he was that day when everything changed. “That morning was just so ordinary, and bang — it all changed,” he said. On Sept. 11, 2011, Hussain had just woken up and was getting ready for school. “I turned on the TV to the Today Show and saw a plane hit the building,” he said. “I was young, so I at first really did think they were showing a movie.” After flipping through the chan-
SEE MUSLIM PAGE 2
Junior business accounting major Fatima Ibrahim wears a hijab, an Islamic religious garment. Photo by Brittany Patterson / Spartan Daily
United Airlines Capt. Jason Dahl once told his sister that if there was ever a problem with his airplane, he would make sure that it came down in the middle of nowhere, away from any people. It was a statement that would prove eerily prophetic. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 slammed nosefirst into an empty field in Pennsylvania, instantly killing 37 passengers, the four hijackers who had commandeered the aircraft, and its seven flight crew members — including Dahl, the aircraft’s pilot. Capt. Dahl was only one of thousands who lost their lives that morning, but for the students and faculty of SJSU’s aviation department, his death holds special significance: Dahl was one of their own.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011, nearly ten years after that fateful morning, around two dozen SJSU students, faculty and alumni gathered at the department simulator lab in the Industrial Studies building. An Air Force ROTC color guard, squeezing between furniture and boxy equipment, marched silently to the head of the room where Dahl’s friends and family waited to speak in celebration of the man’s life and legacy. “The legacy of Jason was that he was a captain — a proud captain,” said David Bunger, a fellow pilot and longtime friend of Dahl’s. Bunger was joined by Dahl’s two sisters, Carol Heidrich Dahl and Joan Raymundo. Also speaking were current department chair Seth Bates and Tom Leonard, co-founder of the aviation department, and one of Jason Dahl’s former
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NEWS
Monday, September 12, 2011
Spartan Daily
Muslim: Living in polarized US FROM PAGE 1 nels, seeing nothing but the same shocking footage, Hussain and his mother watched, their mouths open, he said. “One feeling really stood out later on: This is America — this is actually happening here,” he said. “Then the towers fell, and we were just silent for a while. My mom and I just looked at one another.” Hussain and his mother were among the millions of Americans who watched in disbelief as the media broadcast images of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, 32 Muslims died on 9/11, three of whom were on the hijacked planes, representing 1.07 percent of all those who lost their lives. Fatima Ibrahim, a junior business accounting major, said she doesn’t remember where she was on 9/11, and it wasn’t until she was in high school when she understood the significance.
“I took it upon myself to be kind to everyone and actually make people understand why I wear a scarf myself and why I’m Muslim,” she said. “I try to explain it to where it’s like you know what even though people who are Muslim did this, not every Muslim is like that.” Ibrahim says being Muslim is more than just a religion — it’s something that intersects with every part of her life. “For example we believe in something called Qadar Allah which is what God has planned for you,” she said. “So I pray and study as hard as I can go to class and take my test and if I get an F, like ‘Hey don’t cry about it, it’s what God’s written.’” The San Francisco Bay Area is home to about 250,000 Muslims, according to a news article on the California Council on American-Islamic Relations website. Mohammed Ashfaqul Islam, a sophomore software engineering major, said the reaction in Kuwait, where he was raised, was similar to the reaction in the U.S. “In the Quran it’s written that if you kill an innocent person you go to hell — straight
up,” he said. “There’s no way, no way any Muslim, any practicing Muslim, can justify what happened on 9/11.” Islam was twelve when the planes hit the towers and he said although the attack saddened him and his friends, the event’s significance didn’t hit him until a year before he moved to America. His parents suggested Islam blend in to avoid attracting attention to himself, something he said he did through his freshman year. “They were kind of scared that if I’m a practicing Muslim in America … the FBI will probably be on my case or something,” he said. Hussain said he sees improvement in Muslim relations in America, but there is still work to be done. “I look around, and far more people are friendly to us compared to those that are hostile to us,” he said. “A lot of groups have come out and supported the American Muslims.” Still, he has hope for the future. “It’s not a matter of if normalcy will return, but just a matter of when,” he said.
Assault: Reported off-campus FROM PAGE 1 past week. A safety advisory was also sent via the SJSU Safety Alert system on Monday, Sept. 5, when an attempted sexual assault was reported on campus near the Engineering building. According to the alert, the victim alleged that an unknown subject, described as an African-American male in
his late 30s to early 40s, had asked for a light for his cigarette before attempting the assault. According to data from the San Jose Police Department, there were 253 reported rape incidents in San Jose last year and 1,966 reported cases of aggravated assault. In a statement from the SJSU Safety Alert sent on Sunday the University Police Department issued a reminder
to “campus community members, especially those living in housing areas and the immediate vicinity, to avoid walking alone at night, to be aware of their surroundings, and to walk in well lit areas.” UPD has an Evening Guide program which is open to all SJSU students who would like to request an officer escort to accompany them from an oncampus location to anywhere within two blocks of campus.
Joan Raymundo, sister of Jason Dahl, signs a Flight 93 flag in his honor at Wednesday’s memorial. Flight 93 was the flight that went down in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. Photo by Dorian Silva / Spartan Daily
Dahl: 9/11 pilot memorialized FROM PAGE 1 teachers. They described a man utterly devoted to his craft and to the people around him. Born and raised in south San Jose, Dahl attended elementary school at what was then called Hillsdale Elementary School. The school was recently renamed “Captain Jason M. Dahl Elementary School” in his honor. Dahl had a keen interest in aviation since the time he could talk, his sister Carol said. At age 13 he joined the Civil Air Patrol and earned a scholarship to help pay for flight training. “Aviation was his love — that and photography. He sort of juggled the two,” she said with a laugh. “He also worked out at Reid-Hillview pumping gas so he could have (more) money to rent the planes and fly.” For Jason, said Joan Raymundo, flying wasn’t a hobby — it was his life. “Any chance he got to fly he took,” said Raymundo, the other sister in attendance at the memorial. Dahl learned to fly well before he learned to drive — his sisters recall having to pick up from the airport after flight lessons. By age 16, the minimum legal age, he was flying solo and received his pilots license shortly after. “I remember the first time he asked me to go up with him,” said Carol. “I was like ‘that’s a little bitty airplane.’ I’m used to the big ones.” She said she still felt safe with him. “I trusted him — just not the airplane,” Carol said. “I just remember how thorough he was.” She described watching Dahl perform his ground inspections, and being impressed by how absolutely steady and methodical he was. After graduating from high school Dahl enrolled at SJSU. It wasn’t really much of a decision, said his sisters — he got one look at the school’s aviation program, and the matter was decided.
It was at SJSU that Dahl met David Bunger, forging a lasting friendship with him and several other young pilots. Aviation students tend to be a close-knit, clannish bunch, said Bunger, and the friendships Dahl made at the university would last long after his graduation in 1980. Bunger remembers those years fondly. “There were seven of us who hung together at San Jose State, under the tutelage of Tom Leonard,” he said. Graduating with degree in aeronautical engineering, Dahl’s first flying job was as a corporate pilot. He eventually went on to land a job with United Airlines, rising steadily through the ranks. According to his family, his genial demeanor and air of solid competence made him popular with his fellow pilots, both as a friend and mentor. Dahl eventually became what is known as a “standards pilot,” whose primary role was to train and evaluate other pilots. This senior position allowed Dahl to have more flexible schedules, and therefore more time to spend at home with his family — his wife, Sandy, and his son, Matthew. Jason and Sandy Dahl’s fifth wedding anniversary was going to be on Sept. 14, 2001. To get the time off with his family, Dahl agreed to fly Sept. 11 through 13. On the morning of Sept. 11, just over 45 minutes after takeoff, four hijackers, led by al-Qaida pilot Ziad Jarrah, stormed the cockpit of United Airlines Flight 93. Overpowering Dahl and First Officer LeRoy Homer, the four hijackers took control of the aircraft, herding passengers and crew to the back and threatening them with knives and what was claimed to be a bomb. Over the intercom, Jarrah told the passengers and crew the hijackers were going to land the aircraft and use them as hostages. By this point, friends and
ON THIS DAY… -
To learn more, call 1-877-406-9936 or visit www.healthcare.goarmy.com/p353.
President addresses nation: Four planes were hijacked by terrorists. Two crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Another crashed into the Pentagon and the third crashed in Pa. “Today our nation saw evil,” President Bush said on live television.
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Campus shuts down (at right) Classes were stopped in light of a national tragedy which absorbed the attention of the SJSU community.
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Students find solace at service 30 people gather for interfaith prayers for peace at Catholic Campus Ministry chapel.
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Donors flock to Red Cross In wake of tragedy, more than twice the normal number of contributors seek to supply their blood to banks.
family of those aboard the hijacked airliner had begun receiving phone calls from the plane. It was these phone calls that provide us with some of the best and most chilling evidence of the events which unfolded aboard Flight 93. It was from these calls, according to friends and family on ground, that the passengers and crew of Flight 93 learned of the destruction of the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon, and the fate which was inevitably to be theirs if they didn’t stop it. With the legendary cry of “Let’s roll!” captured over an open phone line, the passengers surged forward toward the cockpit, fighting through hijackers in the cabin in a bid to retake the aircraft. According to the cockpit data recorder, at around 10 a.m. Jarrah felt he was in imminent danger of losing control of the aircraft, saying as much to his fellow hijacker in the cockpit over the sounds of fighting behind them. He rolled the aircraft onto its back and pulled straight back into a powered dive that that ended in a fireball in an empty Pennsylvania field. Dahl’s old friend David Bunger also ended up working for United Airlines. He recalled the deathly silent atmosphere when he came into work that morning, and his stunned reaction on learning that his friend Jason had gone down with Flight 93. Bill Heidrich, Dahl’s brotherin-law, also remembered being crushed by the news. “The family had lost so much,” he said. “Jason had already lost a brother in Vietnam. When we heard that Jason had gone down, it was like ‘This just isn’t fair.’” At the memorial on Sept. 6, David Bunger ended his speech on a grim note. “Let us never forget, as Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, ‘the day that will live in infamy,’” he said. “For us, that day was Sept. 11, 2001.”
Spartan Daily
Monday, September 12, 2011
A&E
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SJSU vows to remember 9/11 in emotional concert, Sunday
Students and faculty alike congregate anticipating a performance of taps and a candlelight vigil yesterday outside of the Music building for San Jose State’s Into the Light Concert. Performances included dancing, singing and instrumental performances Photo by K.L. Perry / Spartan Daily
by Chris Marian Staff Writer
On the evening of Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, the main hall of SJSU’s School of Music and Dance echoed with the thunder of Mozart’s Requiem. It was a requiem for the thousands of people from all walks of life who perished that fateful morning, ten years ago to the day. The performance Sunday night included choral routines and an eclectic mix from all branches of the department including classical piano, jazz, poetry reading and modern dance — all in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The whole event had its genesis with three professors, William Meredith, Joseph Frank, and Layna Chianakas. “We all remember where we were on 9/11 … it was a catharsis,” said Frank, who also sang tenor in one of the night’s performances. “Here we were (now), years later, we needed to do something.” The three professors decided to organize a memorial concert, bringing to it a diverse array of performance arts. “We all thought we would bring something different to the table,” said Frank. In the hours before the concert Sunday evening, the Music building was a beehive of activity. Packs of student volunteers, tuxedoed performers, professors and ROTC cadets swirled busily about the halls. Most of the muscle behind the event was provided by student volunteers. Jose Mendiola, a senior of voice performance with the School of Music and Dance, was one of those student volunteers. When Professor Chianakas put out her call for help, he was one of the many who responded. Mendiola was impressed with her ability to organize. “She e-mailed us this past week and just put it all together,” he said. Junior music major Neil Rontley answered the call as well. It wasn’t a particularly hard choice, he said, saying that student performers like him would always jump at the chance to perform. At 8 p.m. the event began with the packed hall standing in salute as an SJSU ROTC color guard planted the American flag on the stage, and Chianakas, a mezzo-soprano, sang the national anthem. Next up was Joseph Frank, singing “America,
My Wondrous Land” by Rob Roy Peery. Between performances, SJSU President Mohammad Qayoumi took the podium to recount the events and consequences of the 9/11 terror attacks and the difficult years that followed. Afterword, there was the performance of Mozart’s requiem, followed by a reading of Tomas Transtromer’s poem “Schubertiana” by Nils Peterson, an SJSU professor emeritus and Santa Clara County’s first poet laureate. There was another solo performance from Layna Chianakas, a staccato modern dance routine from dance student Marte Madera and a Brahms piano piece from Gwendolyn Mok. There was another dance routine performed with sinuous grace by SJSU dance instructor Maria Basile and finally a smooth jazz performance by student trio Aaron Lington, John Shifflett and Frank Sumares. The concert came to a close with a final speech from Karl Toepfer, dean of the College of Humanities and the Arts, thanking students and faculty for their efforts in producing the concert, and dedicating the event once again to the victims, living and dead, of the Sept. 11 attacks. As the ROTC color guard returned for the flags, the audience filed out slowly behind them,
The Air Force ROTC Color Guard prepares for the presentation of the colors during yesterday’s Into the Light Concert. Photo by K.L. Perry / Spartan Daily
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Tenor Joseph Frank sang the National Anthem and “America, My Wondrous Land” during the Into the Light Concert in the Music Concert Hall yesterday. Photo by K.L. Perry / Spartan Daily
pausing beyond the doors to hold a candlelight vigil, singing “God Bless America” in subdued tones. Both the professors and students behind the concert said their reasons for doing it weren’t just about celebrating an anniversary, but also about preserving the memory and impact of an event that changed the nation. According to Chianakas, most students now at SJSU would have only been 8 or 9 when the attacks occurred in 2001 and it was important to reintroduce these young people to a transformative trauma that, for many, would only have been a vague memory. “It’s important that your generation understands the impact of these events on the nation,” she said. It’s a sentiment shared by Jose Mendiola. “When I ask my friends how they feel about it (9/11) they just shrug and say ‘I was a kid,’” he said. “I still remember it, but I didn’t really understand the significance of what was going on until my profesors explained it to me.”
SJSU instructor Maria Basile performs “The Upward Spiral” during yesterday’s Into the Light Concert. Photo by K.L. Perry / Spartan Daily
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TECH
Monday, September 12, 2011
Spartan Daily
Museum mixes spirits, science for those of drinking age
J.T. Mudge goes for the glory in this oversized game of Jenga on Wednesday night during After Hours at the Tech Museum of San Jose. Jenga was one of several oversized games that patrons could play at the event. Photo by Jasper Rubenstein / Spartan Daily
ABOUT AFTER HOURS AT THE TECH
EVERY FIRST WEDNESDAY
21+; $12.00 FOR PUBLIC; $10 FOR MEMBERS 10TH
After Hours is a new monthly event held at the The Tech Museum combining a world of science, a plethora of drinks and a new place to socialize with friends. Last week the Tech Museum held its third After Hours event, and I must say it was quite fun. They have food and drinks for those who don’t mind spending a few extra bucks. For $5 to $10 you can really get into the spirit or get some spirits in you. This particular Wednesday night was themed “DNA with a Twist� and it left my brain spinning from both alcohol consumption and a ton of exhibits and boisterous board games that attendees could play. They had an array of oversized games for attendees to partake in such as Jenga, chess, Connect 4 and Twister, which you would think would be easier to play in a larger format. Actually, it takes a little more finesse to play these games when drinking but it adds to the fun when your friend attempts to remove a Jenga piece the size of a shoebox and knocks over the whole stack. I did not have a “Techtini,� the Tech Museum’s equivalent to a martini served in a glow in the dark glass, but I did have a beer and a mixed drink. I know drinking on the job is unprofessional, but I had to really get into the experience. One experience I could not pass up this particular evening was listening to live music being played by the Sunrunners on the roof of the Tech Museum. It made my night. Several Stanford graduate students studying genetics also made hands-on science presen-
tations that were entertaining to your everyday non-scientist. Since the night’s theme was deoxyribonucleic acid, why not have graduate students from Stanford do experiments and demonstrations with eager tipsy participants? One exhibit that caught my attention was an exhibit that looked like every CSI episode ever, except there was no fake blood everywhere. The Stanford students set up a fake crime scene and it was up to the patron-sleuths to figure who had done it based on the evidence the criminal left behind. Basically, I got to play with water that changes color when you mix it with the suspect’s DNA and then try to match it with the right perp. I loved how I got to use something that looked like an advanced turkey baster to suck the liquid evidence from a tube, plus I had to have my suspicions confirmed that the Joker was the culprit. Overall, I really enjoyed the After Hours experience at The Tech Museum. I have never been to a museum before when there was no one under 21 allowed, making the experience entirely less chaotic and less aggravating. The Tech Museum seems to have the right idea by offering events such as this and will continue to do so every first Wednesday of the month from 6 to 11 p.m. The next After Hours event, to be held Oct. 5, will be themed “Super-Powered Pajama Party.� Some might argue that cocktails and science do not go together. I say, try After Hours and then let me know what you think.
4TH
Staff Writer
MARKET
byy Jeremyy Infusino
SAN FERNANDO
SJSU
TECH MUSEUM
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Hours: 6 to 11 p.m. Drinks: $5 to $10 Live music on the roof Graduate-level science projects - Supersized Jenga, chess, Connect 4 and Twister - Next event: October 5
Map by Leo Postovoit / Spartan Daily
Senior animation major Riley Thompson juggles blocks on the teeter totter at one of the exhibits on display at the Tech Museum’s After Hours. Photo by Jasper Rubenstein / Spartan Daily
“Super-Powered Pajama Party�
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Spartan Daily
Monday, September 12, 2011
The death pageant By Matthew Gerring
I was listening to NPR and drinking my coffee on the morning of the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. Audie Cornish and Robert Smith were pregaming the 9/11 memorial, the sort of thing you would expect to hear in the hours before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was the preamble to our annual pageant of death, by now a familiar ritual. Cornish was asking Smith about the view of the memorial from where he was standing. They read the day’s schedule. When moments of silence came, they annotated them for listeners who would otherwise encounter dead air on their radio. I assume on cable news channels yesterday they replayed video of the planes hitting the towers — two missile-like objects striking two skyscrapers, causing fires to break out, burning slowly and eventually collapsing. It is often said we were traumatized by these images. Two years later, America rained down actual missiles on a large swath of Baghdad, a tactic we called “shock and awe,” the commencement of which interrupted prime-time TV. Live images of a whole series of buildings being struck by hundreds of missiles and the resulting widespread fires were broadcast to the world. Nobody calls these images “traumatizing.” Yo Yo Ma was playing cello at a somber ceremony where the names of the victims of the 9/11 attacks were read. In the days after the attacks, several organizations painstakingly compiled and cross-referenced their lists of casualties to produce a canonical record of who died at what time on that day. There is now a memorial bearing those names. The record of civilian casualties directly caused by U.S. military action in Afghanistan is far less precise than our record of the dead from 9/11, in part because the United States military doesn’t officially keep track of civilian casualties. A combination of records kept by Professor Marc Herold
of the University of New Hampshire and the U.N. Assistance Mission Afghanistan yields an estimate of 6,861 civilians killed in Afghanistan by U.S. and international forces since 2001. The picture in Iraq is far more grim. At the low end, 102,417 Iraqi civilians have been killed according to Iraq Body Count, a group that monitors press reports of civilian casualties in Iraq. Included in this estimate are deaths from insurgent military action, roadside bombs and suicide bomb attacks. Let us be charitable and assume that only one quarter of the total civilian casualties were caused directly by U.S. military action. The figure was closer to 37 percent in 2003-2005, according to Iraq Body Count, but fell off in subsequent years. These leaves us with a very conservative estimate of 32,465 civilian casualties caused by the U.S. in response to an attack that killed 2,996. Admiral Mike Mullen called this “Visiting upon our enemies the vengeance they were due,” speaking at the Pentagon memorial service. Nobody will be reading the names of those people or inscribing them in brass and placing them in a memorial, in part because many of them only have words like “Son of dead man” to identify them. There’s no one event marking mass civilian death in these wars — in the countries where we’ve “visited our vengeance,” civilian deaths occur in a steady procession. I don’t mean to minimize the loss experienced by family and friends of the victims of 9/11. I only mean to suggest that the tragedy of mass civilian death is not singular, nor unique to the United States, and to question our glorification of the loss, the media spectacle, the wall-towall coverage and the nationalist religion we all helped create in the wake of the attacks, this anniversary being its main holy day. 9/11 has become a dark ritual, a pagan invocation, summoning the spirits of the dead to justify our state of perpetual warfare and the deep intrusion of the surveillance state into our daily lives. We will probably never roll back the increase in unchecked law enforcement power, the rise in closed-circuit television cameras, warrantless wiretapping, the criminalization of domestic dissent, designated “free speech zones” for protests, physically invasive airport screenings and rapidly approaching horrors such as mandatory biometric identification cards or facial and retina scanning.
The current wars may end, but we will always have to live with the doctrine of preemptive undeclared war they gave us. As I write this, remote-controlled planes are flying in Pakistan and who knows how many other countries. Some of them will drop bombs, and many of these bombs will kill civilians. The CIA will continue to claim “zero” civilian casualties from these attacks, but a recent New York Times story quoted several skeptical experts on the subject. One of them — Bill Roggio, editor of The Long War Journal — called the CIA claim “absurd.” Our politicians make similarly absurd claims — Republicans say our nation is bankrupt because of profligate government social spending and public employee unions, while Democrats say corporate tax loopholes and Bush’s tax cuts are driving us into financial oblivion, but anyone with eyes can see it’s the trillion or so dollars we’ve spent on these wars without asking Americans to pay for them. The generation born after 9/11, now old enough to understand what happened and form opinions about it, have known nothing but war, domestic oppression and economic ruin their whole lives. To them, this is normal. To those of us just becoming adults, all we have is a hazy recollection of a world that was not like this, one that rapidly fades as the years go on. From those old enough to have come of age politically in a world without constant open warfare, in a time when it would have been crazy to suggest that intelligence agencies should have access to domestic civilian library records, we hear too little. We hear only of how the world changed on 9/11, and the tacit acceptance of all those changes. This is the world we live in now. Nobody pretends the vast and radical changes our country underwent in response to 9/11 are temporary anymore. For those that question this new reality, our media provides as it’s answer this yearly pageant of death. As managing editor of this newspaper, I was against offering this issue as a sacrifice in this ritual. In spite of myself, I helped it along. I sincerely hope I’m not the only one who is deeply uncomfortable with it. We do not have enough critical voices in this paper, or in the media generally, against the political and military legacy we inherited from 9/11. I hope you’ll raise yours.
Check tomorrow for an international perspective on 9/11 from a former Spartan Daily editor living in Pakistan
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OPINION
US needs to move on from 9/11 Wes Side Story appears weekly on Mondays I might get some hate mail for this but I’m just going to say it — it’s time to move on from 9/11. Now hear me out first, I’m not trying to be insensitive or hurtful and I’m not trying to say anything like “F**k America” because that’s just ludicrous. Unless your a heartless piece of you know what, we all felt something for those who lost loved ones on that day. It’s a national tragedy, we all know it is, and many lives including my own across this country were greatly affected by it but just like losing any loved one in your life there comes a point where you have to stop dwelling on it. Pretty much every year since that terrible day that I can remember, the media and society alike have brooded on this topic. As someone who has gone through a few tragedies, I feel the worst thing you can do when going through a loss is
dwelling on what happened and I think for the last 10 years America has refused to let go. 9/11 shattered America’s sense of invulnerability and for the first time ever many Americans were suddenly aware of the world around them and the bad people out there who wanted to see us dead. I think that’s why this tragedy has endured as long as it has in our psyches — for the first time in a long time America was scared. In that time, 9/11 has become a symbol of many things in this country. It’s been a beacon of hope, patriotism and sacrifice that has united us as a people against a common enemy. It’s also been a source of racism and prejudice toward Muslim-Americans and has led us into one of the longest and most financially crippling wars in our nation’s history. It has led to a day where people of any background in this country can talk and share what they felt about that day and come together in the comfort of others. It has also led to politicians and pundits on both sides blatantly abusing 9/11 as ways to call one side or the other unAmerican or “not one of us.”
It also led to the dismantling of some of our basic civil liberties by the Bush administration in the form of illegal wire-tappings and the infamous “Patriot Act.” I don’t think the people who died that day would want us using their memory in that way. So I say once again it’s time to move on from this terrible tragedy. There have been many horrifying days in our country’s history but I think with the assassination of Osama bin Laden earlier this year and the 10-year anniversary, it’s finally time to let go. I believe as a country it would show a great deal of strength on our part to let this tragedy go. It would represent to the world that while we acknowledge that this terrible tragedy occurred, we are no longer tied down by it. I think it would do the people who died and sacrificed their lives that day a great liberty and show to them and the rest of the world that we really have grown as a country and are stronger since then. In close, all I have to say is this — may our troops stay safe and may God bless America.
Since 9/11/01: = 10,000 people
17,400 Afghan troops and civilians killed
2,229 U.S. troops, coalition troops, contractors and journalists killed in Afghanistan
41,624 Afghan troops and civilians injured 8,164 U.S. troops, coalition troops, contractors and journalists injured in Afghanistan
894,581 Iraqi troops and civilians killed
5,807 U.S. troops, coalition troops, contractors and journalists killed in Iraq
1,646,156 Iraqi troops and civilians injured
44,747 U.S. troops, coalition troops, contractors and journalists injured in Iraq
Calculations made using estimations via http://www.unknownnews.net as of September 11, 2011, but data is as of 2010. Formulas for Iraqi and Infographic by Afghan troops are partially estimated and are rounded down. Leo Postovoit / Spartan Daily There are no estimated figures for injured journalists.
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SPORTS
Monday, September 12, 2011 EDITORIAL
Sports & 9/ 11: a healing tool in time of need by Ron Gleeson Sports Editor
Spartan safeties James Orth (81) and Duke Ihenacho (2) trip up Bruin Anthony Barr to prevent him from scoring, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Photo by Vernon McKnight / Spartan Daily
Two late Bruin scores prevent an SJSU upset by Ron Gleeson Sports Editor
The Rose Bowl didn’t smell like the decadent fragrance for which the stadium is named on Saturday for SJSU, but there was a noticeable aroma of improvement. SJSU (0-2) carried a tie score into the fourth quarter against UCLA (1-1) but allowed two unanswered fourth-quarter scores to lose the game with a final score of 27-17 in Pasadena, Calif. Spartan head coach Mike MacIntyre called the contest a wellfought affair and said he was proud of the way the team played. “I thought it was a good football game,” he said. “UCLA played well. We were right in it and had a couple miscues there at the end and we had a chance. Our kids played hard.” A surprise came with the release of the Spartan starting lineup prior to kick off — senior quarterback Matt Faulkner, who started last week against Stanford, was scratched because of concussion-like symptoms during practices this week. The change marks the second time in four years the Spartans had a different quarterback in each of its first two games.
MacIntyre said the team made up its mind Thursday that Faulkner would miss the start because of failed concussions tests, which are required by the NCAA when any concussion symptoms are present. “He had a little bit of a concussion and with all the new tests and everything that we do, he didn’t pass the test on Thursday and that meant he was out on Saturday,” MacIntyre said. Sophomore quarterback Dasmen Stewart was given the nod for his first career start, taking over for Faulkner and leading a Spartan offense that recorded 317 net yards in the defeat. Stewart finished 11-31 passing for 111 yards, and added another 53 yards on the ground, showing versatility with his ability to get away from blitzing Bruin defenders. “(Stewart) managed the game well,” MacIntyre said. “I like the way he ran the football. He made some good runs on some passing plays where he got the first down. That was critical for us.” Stewart experienced some body cramps in the fourth quarter, allowing redshirt freshman Blake Jurich to receive the first playing time in his NCAA career, but said he was pleased with his performance.
Spartans quarterback Dasmen Stewart (18) scrambles to get rid of the ball to avoid being sacked. Photo by Vernon McKnight / Spartan Daily
Quarterback depth chart gets sacked by Ron Gleeson Sports Editor
Senior quarterback Matt Faulkner, who missed Saturday’s start with concussion-like symptoms, will be further evaluated this week in preparation for SJSU’s home opener against Nevada on Sept. 17 at Spartan Stadium. Head coach Mike MacIntyre said the starting quarterback against Nevada will remain unknown until Faulkner’s test results are in. Sophomore Dasmen Stewart was given the start against UCLA in lieu of Faulkner’s inability to play. No matter who gets the start this weekend, MacIntyre said he will remain confident in his decision behind center.
Spartans cornerback Peyton Thompson (19) reacts to being called for pass interference in a game against the UCLA Bruins. Photo by Vernon McKnight / Spartan Daily
“We moved the ball well as an offense,” Stewart said. “I was a lot more relaxed out there than I thought I would be. Second series I started feeling more comfortable. Stewart, along with senior Brandon Rutley and junior David Freeman, led a Spartan rushing attack that came alive against UCLA with 202 yards — one week removed from recording a total of 24 yards against Stanford. “I was proud of the way we ran the football,” MacIntyre said. “I’ve been saying we could run it and we finally ran it well.” Rutley led SJSU in running with nine rushes for 88 yards, 65 of those coming on a long touchdown run in the third quarter to tie the game going into the final 15 minutes of play. Rutley gave all credit for the play to his offensive linemen. “Without a good line we’re not going to have runs like that,” he said. “The line block perfectly and the play worked to perfection.” Rutley said he is confident the Spartan running game will continue to flourish. “We knew this year we would be able to establish a run game because the way the lineman worked,” he said. “I think its going to be like this each week, we are going to keep getting better and better.” Both Freeman and Rutley found the end zone once each, Freeman’s
“We will sit down and talk about it this week,” he said. “I think both of them can play and do well. We’ll figure out what’s best for the team as we go forward.” MacIntyre said each quarterback has different styles of play and different beneficial characteristics and added that having sophomore Dasmen Stewart on the field does change his offensive game plan slightly. “(Stewart) has some strengths that he likes to do,” MacIntyre said, referring to Stewart’s ability to use his legs and escape the pocket to gain yards on the ground. “But Matt has some strengths too. It changed it a little bit.” MacIntyre informed Stewart he would be the starter against UCLA on the Thursday prior to the game. “I was a little nervous but at the same time I was excited,” Stewart said. “It’s right in my home town so a lot of family and friends came to see me. “ Stewart said he recognizes that his ability to run changes the offense. “On third and long, nothing was there so I just took off and got the first down,” he said, referring
first quarter touchdown being the first touchdown for SJSU this season. MacIntyre said he saw much improvement from the team that committed self-wounding mistakes in a 57-3 loss last weekend and added that the team recognizes it as well. “They feel better about the way they competed and they know they can do it, but they are down because of the loss,” he said. “They want to get those W’s and hopefully we are taking a step in the right direction.” MacIntyre said he couldn’t call the team’s near-upset a defining moment for Spartan football as it continues its season, but said it was an impressive showing by the team. “A win is a defining moment,” he said. “I do believe our kids showed resilience after coming off a very embarrassing loss last week. They came back and fought hard in a hostile environment, a great place to play against a football team that was hungry themselves. They weren’t overlooking us I can promise you that, because they are fighting for their lives too.” Senior safety and team co-captain Duke Ihenacho said the performance his team displayed on the field is encouraging to the locker room vibe. “It’s motivating, but nothing feels like a win,” he said. “ We didn’t get the job done so we have to go back to the drawing board and prepare for next week.”
to a play during the Spartans’ loss to UCLA. “It opens up the offense a lot.” Although Stewart was able to move the field against the highly-touted Bruin defense, he was plagued by body cramps that forced him to miss parts of Saturday’s contest. “It was a shame he got the cramps,” MacIntyre said. “We had a play down the middle and he was cramping up and he couldn’t follow through. We just have to make sure he stays hydrated better.” Stewart said he felt down on himself for having to miss plays during the game. “I tried to stay in the game for as long as I could till the point where my calves just locked up,” he said. “My main goal this week in practice is to get my body right by doing a lot more conditioning so I won’t have this problem again.” Stewart and MacIntyre both said they are impressed with the leadership Faulkner showed on the sideline against UCLA. “Good thing about Matt is that if he’s not playing he’s still there supporting us and still being a leader out there,” Stewart said. “He was relaying the plays and helping Dasmen and Blake with everything,” MacIntyre said.
Tears flowed from the eyes of millions of people this weekend as football games around the nation began with ceremonies in remembrance of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon ten years ago. From children to the elderly to 350-pound linemen observing a moment of silence prior to kick off, those who paused to recollect the painful yet unforgettable memories from that fateful Tuesday morning couldn’t help but mourn. Lives were changed and lives were lost. This was the scene at the SJSU versus UCLA football game Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena — a pregame ceremony to remember those who perished in the attacks that resulted in tears shed. When the towers fell 10 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001, sports fans suddenly no longer cared about the outcome of the game the prior weekend and entire sports industry took a back seat to the tragedy when Major League Baseball, the National Football League and NASCAR took breaks in their regular seasons. People lost a sense of what was normal — they lost connections to the little things in life that brought happiness to their days. When teams returned to the field after the short hiatus following the attacks, so did a small amount of glee to the grieving nation. In the New York Mets’ first game after play resumed — which was played in Queens, New York — then-catcher Mike Piazza hit a gamewinning home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, causing the crowd in attendance to become hysterical. Tears flowed once again that week by those in the grandstands at Shea Stadium, but this time they were tears of exhilaration. Some people believe ceremonies like those for the departed on Sept. 11 do not belong in sport, but sport is what brought this nation back together when we needed something to put much-needed smiles on our faces. When sports returned our sense of normalcy returned as well; the little things we cherish every day. Sports became a gathering place for people longing for something to take their attention off something that has scarred their minds. When people came together again, the nation showed that even though they may have been hurt, they would not be hurt for long. People temporarily lost themselves in the game and shared a collective vision of patriotism. The nation became one entity, secured and strengthened by the spectacle they came to see. These stadiums became cathedrals, rich with the adrenaline many had hoped would return one day, possibly making sports matter more than ever before. And even though the events of 9/11 may not have increased the popularity or importance of sports then, sport will forever be known as the glue which bonded a once-ailing nation.
CORRECTION In the Sept. 7 issue, the credit for the photo of Matt Faulkner should have been credited to Thomas Webb / Spartan Daily.
Sophomore Dasmen Stewart stands in the pocket and surveys his receivers. Stewart finished 15-31 passing for 111 yards in his first career Division I start. Photo by Vernon McKnight / Spartan Daily