September 11, 2001

WKU Professors React To Terrorist Attacks On U.S.; Psychologist Offers Tips For Parents

Bowling Green, Ky. - Why? What happened? Who did this? Are we safe?
In the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, those are questions the media, political analysts and even children are asking.

For parents, a day of watching the events unfold on national television ends with children asking what happened and why.

"Something of this magnitude is overwhelming," said Western Kentucky University psychology professor William Pfohl, who offered the following tips for parents:

· Reassure your children that they are safe and that you will keep them safe.

· Be willing to talk with your children about the events.

· Answer the children's questions honestly as best you can.

· Be very specific when answering their questions.

· Control your reactions around children and watch what you say.

· Expect some changes in your child's behavior over the next three or four days. A child may have trouble sleeping, eating or concentrating at school.

· More tips for parents and teachers and additional information and links are available on the National Association of School Psychologists website at www.nasponline.org by clicking on the "Coping with Crisis" icon.

"Basically parents need to be as reassuring as they can be," Dr. Pfohl said Tuesday afternoon. "Right now, there is a lot we don't know."

As a member of the National Association of School Psychologists' National Emergency Assistance Team, Dr. Pfohl has led response teams to several crisis scenes, most recently a January shooting at a mental health clinic in Nevada City, Calif. The team is on standby to assist families, schools and communities affected by Tuesday's attacks.

Even adults will need time to come to grips with Tuesday's events, Dr. Pfohl said. "People usually see these types of scenes in Israel or Northern Ireland, but now they know it really happened here," he said.

Two WKU professors with expertise in international government say it will be difficult to understand the attacks until more is known about the terrorists.

"Until we have any more information, it's impossible to say who did it. Until we know who's responsible, we can't really say why," said government professor Roger Murphy. "We can perhaps understand why those targets were selected, the World Trade Center being a visible symbol of American economic power and of course the Pentagon a very visible of American military power."

Dr. Murphy said terrorism is usually directed to change government policy. "It's done basically for the impact on public opinion, using fear to influence public opinion to change the government's behavior," he said.

Dr. Saundra Ardrey, head of Western's Government Department, said terrorist attacks are usually two-pronged, attacking the physical buildings that are symbols of economic and military power, and attacking psychological security. "Here in the United States, we mostly believe we're immune to such attacks," she said.

The impact of the attacks has already been felt in Bowling Green. "We've had students wondering if classes were canceled or if the University's been shut down," Dr. Murphy said. "That's exactly the type of impact terrorists hope to achieve."

Americans will be looking for reaction from the government.

"On the home front, it will be interesting to see what President Bush's reaction is going to be to this because it comes so very early in his presidency. This may be a defining moment," Dr. Ardrey said.

Dr. Murphy agreed.

"He's got to do the things the American public expect. Obviously there should be no negotiations with terrorists and probably some form of response," he said.

Dr. Murphy added that while the scale of the attack is striking, preventing such attacks in the United States is difficult.

"In a democratic society, a free society, you can't really prevent this type of terrorist activity. You can be as vigilant as possible, monitor terrorist groups, but there is always that risk."

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