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鈥淚 will always remember it was Tuesday,鈥� said Jen Miller 鈥�02 when recalling the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Miller was a senior at 小优视频ampa and editor-in-chief of The Minaret student newspaper at the time. Every Tuesday, the staff would finalize that week鈥檚 paper, so it鈥檇 be ready to run on Friday. She spent that morning watching the news with her roommates before heading to The Minaret鈥檚 office to survey the scene on campus.

She vividly remembers that she told her newspaper advisor, 鈥淲ell, now we can鈥檛 put the paper out tonight.鈥� The advisor said, 鈥淣o you have to put a out. This is what journalism is.鈥�

Felicia Murphy 鈥�03, M.A. 鈥�21 was a sophomore communication major on Sept. 11, 2001. She and her roommate were awakened by a phone call and then turned on the TV 鈥� in time to see the second tower fall.

She remembers making frantic phone calls to friends spread across the country, many of whom were serving in the military and rushing to report to duty.听

鈥淚t was pandemonium,鈥� she said, noting it was hours before she got through to her mother, a civil servant who worked at Hurlburt Field, an Air Force installation near Navarre Beach. 鈥淭his was before cell phones. No one was answering.鈥�

As the day wore on, Murphy鈥檚 room on the third floor of Vaughn filled with sorority sisters, who sat watching the news, crying.

鈥淲e watched until the middle of the afternoon, until I said I couldn鈥檛 do it anymore. We turned it to cartoons 鈥� to decompress.鈥�

Miller remembers that ROTC students always wore their fatigues on Tuesdays, though many other students didn鈥檛 realize this was a regular occurrence and thought active Army troops had been deployed to campus.

鈥淚t was just chaos,鈥� said Miller. 鈥�(Later that day) we saw a light in the sky flying towards the Bank of America building (in downtown Tampa) and we all ducked, but it was just a helicopter going to Tampa General.鈥�

Monnie Wertz, who was assistant to the dean of students at the time, also remembers the uncertainty the community experienced that day and in the following weeks. Wertz was home with her 1-year-old daughter when she got the news that morning, then promptly had to coordinate with the staff and students to ensure everyone felt safe and supported.

As she worked up to becoming the VP of Operations at 小优视频ampa, Wertz has seen the ways that the terrorist attacks permanently changed crisis responses across the nation.听

鈥淚 think as a country, it was very foreign; how do you manage that level of collective trauma?鈥� said Wertz. 鈥淢oving forward, knowing that, unfortunately, something of this scale was a possibility, you see that now as we鈥檙e putting our emergency protocols into practice.鈥�

As student activities director, Stephanie Russell Krebs was also involved with immediate student assistance. After a colleague brought her to the commuter lounge near her office to see the live footage, 鈥淲e watched for a little while and then we knew we needed to figure out how to support our students.鈥澨�

Russell Krebs 鈥� now VP of Student Affairs 鈥� said University staff worked to create spaces for students to come together and mourn about what happened that day.听

鈥淲e were helping students coordinate rides. Some people wanted to go back to New York,鈥� she said.听

鈥淲e weren鈥檛 thinking about risk management, we were thinking people needed to get home to see their people. I just remember creating and holding space for people.鈥澨�

Miller remembered an improvised command center being set up in Fletcher Lounge in Plant Hall so students could reach their families.听

Ronald Vaughn, 小优视频ampa鈥檚 president from 1995-2024, added that senior leaders communicated quickly to the campus and canceled classes for the day.听

鈥淓verybody was immersed in what was happening,鈥� said Vaughn. 鈥淚t was really about helping each other make it through such a challenging event in our country.鈥�

As the days went on, Murphy remembers a subdued feeling on campus. It was quiet. 鈥淣o one was really going out. People were keeping close,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 that campus was a zombie town, because it wasn鈥檛. It was just surreal. 鈥� It was a mental and physical adjustment to what happened.鈥�

鈥淲hen tragedies happen it brings everybody together,鈥� said Russell Krebs. 鈥淲e were all just one community navigating through this. It was a very connected place after that.鈥�

Today, Murphy teaches speech courses at 小优视频ampa. She uses lessons from 9/11 in her classes.

鈥淚 talk to my students about significant events and how going through something like that shapes how you communicate with people. I tell them, 鈥榊ou have to talk about it with someone, a close friend, a therapist. 鈥� You might not have a 9/11 in your life, but you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. If you are open and vulnerable, it becomes easier over time.鈥�

Read more: Three 小优视频ampa Campus Safety officers who were NYPD officers on Sept. 11 share their memories, in their own words.

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