During perhaps the most exciting sports event I’ve ever witnessed, there was something at the football game this past weekend that frightened me a great deal. As the sun was setting, I was one of thousands of fans looking up at the sky with a blank stare. An airliner flying miles away, close to the ground, and clearly passing by south of campus, made a sudden left bank over Spartan Stadium.

It was so low the hatches on the bottom of the aircraft were visible for all of us to see and wonder if something would rain down on us. For only a minute, but what seemed like several, I forgot about the excitement on the field and thought only about the likelihood that I might be a victim of another terrorist attack.

Unfortunately, we are still in a frightening time and the necessary precautions need to be taken to make us feel safe. I was pleased to see security guards at the gates asking us all to lift our shirts so they could see our waists.

I know President M. Peter McPherson asked for a no-fly zone over the stadium for the advertising aircraft, but that ban on aircraft should be extended to cover all aircraft. I hope that something has been said about this already, since so many people witnessed it and were scared. Most people would suspect a stadium full of people to be a good target for terrorists, so we need to ensure the entrances and the air are safe.

Carl Seidman
finance and economics junior