After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent anthrax threats, the UW-Madison campus was flooded with worry.
Students wondered whether more terrorist attacks were coming, perhaps directed at Wisconsin’s state capital. Students worried that their loved ones or even themselves might be drafted to fight a war. Others worried about the possibility of anthrax contamination.
Within weeks, stories began circulating about certain minority groups being targeted and treated as if they were possible terrorists. Some students lost family or friends; others were afraid to travel.
Not surprisingly, the UW Counseling Center has been busier than usual this semester with students turning to professionals for help.
Counseling and Consultation Services director Bob McGrath says business will probably be busier for a while due to what he called an “add-on effect,” meaning that students who were already stressed and anxious see the terrorist attacks as the catalyst that urges them to get help.
“There is a more pervasive generalized anxiety this semester,” McGrath said. “It’s still increasing. It’s predicted that it takes three, four, five weeks for things to sink in.”
The Counseling Center allocates six time slots a day for emergency counseling sessions. Since Sept. 11 these slots have been invariably full, sometimes even double-booked.
“We’ve had to call counselors away from other things to come help us,” McGrath said.
Aside from the Counseling Center, the rest of the UW campus, while wary, is slowly beginning to return to normal.
The Student Travel Association said their services are still being used and that spring break packages should sell as usual.
Few departments are changing curriculum plans.
Panel discussions about the ramifications of the attacks were packed in the immediate weeks following the tragedies, but now these panels are half empty.
Kent Barrett of UW Communications said while things seem to be returning to normal on the surface, fears may exist for some time.
“It’s really tough to gauge,” Barrett said. “I am sure the rhetoric is beginning to die down, but the students probably still have concerns. And the student concerns are our concerns as well.”
Barrett praises UW officials for communicating with students and said the series of listening sessions held by Chancellor John Wiley were helpful in assuaging many common fears on campus.
“Any time you have an event where students are comfortable coming and talking to the administration about their concerns and suggestions is successful,” Barrett said.
UW is still reluctant to discuss additional security measures taken in the wake of the attacks, but Barrett is certain students had little to worry about.
“We don’t discuss security changes — it would undermine them,” he said. “The whole idea of a second plan is to keep it private. We have had a second plan for dealing with any sort of crisis.”
