In attacks' wake, parents reach for children

One mother frantically called her daughter, worried that Independence Hall and the surrounding area would be the next American landmark to be attacked by terrorists. A grandmother who does not even drive a car offered to come pick up her granddaughter to take her away from the city.

Whether a cross-country phone call or a short car ride away, Penn parents -- concerned about their children's well-being after the devastating attacks in New York and Washington -- have spent the past two days in constant contact with their sons and daughters.

"My mom was OK, but my roommate's mother was really upset," Nursing sophomore Celia Thorne said.

In addition to parents, other concerned family members frantically contacted Penn students.

"I live with my aunt and she called me that morning," Wharton senior Electra Bynoe said. "My whole family was shocked because one of my aunts was missing for awhile, but she was found and was OK."

But if parents could not get in contact with their children, they turned to the next best source -- the University.

Immediately after the two airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life and Counseling and Psychological Services opened a 24-hour support system in Houston Hall for parents, with administrators taking turns answering phones.

According to Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum, parents mainly want to ensure that their children get access to some of the basic facilities on campus and that they have a place to go for counseling.

"The key questions I have heard are... if the University is open, and we have told [parents] we are providing our key essential services -- dining, housing, a place for people to come together and, most importantly, available counselors," McCoullum said.

"From the parents I have talked to, what comforted them was that the University was not closed," she added.

Parents also turned to Counseling and Psychological Services to make sure that beyond the physical safety of their children, their psychological well-being was being provided for. CAPS has received calls from parents asking about everything from homesick students to how to handle a son or daughter reliving the experience of losing friends or family in the Oklahoma City bombing.

And CAPS might include counseling services and programs at Family Weekend on Oct. 5-7.

"We are available to help [parents] talk through their problems and we have to spend time with each parent to get a feel for the problems in each individual case," CAPS Director Ilene Rosenstein said. "Sometimes it is the parent with the anxieties."

In some cases, it was, in fact, the parents who were having trouble dealing with the attacks and their deadly affects.

"[My roommate's mother] called my roommate about 20 times throughout the day," Thorne said. "She told us to... stay inside and away from the city because she heard the Liberty Bell was next."

For one student, the attack prompted her family to try to bring her home.

"My grandma called me -- she does not drive -- and she was going to come pick me up," College sophomore Inna Dexter said. "She wanted me to get out of the city because she thought the University was next."

Aside from personal anxieties about the large number of deaths, parents are concerned about Philadelphia's proximity to the terrorist attacks.

"A lot of parents want to know if Philly is safe," VPUL Executive Director Max King said.

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