Reflecting on how the events of 9/11 have changed the University of Pennsylvania, Penn professors, including CERL Affiliated Faculty Members Beth Simmons and Michael Horowitz, note that the University’s approach to emergency preparedness and campus security have changed dramatically. Perhaps even more importantly, 9/11 and the Patriot Act shifted the calculus about how people weigh privacy rights versus national security concerns. As Professor Simmons explained, the widespread surveillance systems in effect on campus and in much of the United States have become so commonplace that many people, including students born after 9/11, have lost sight of how hotly contested they once were.

Beth Simmons is Andrea Mitchell University Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a member of CERL’s Affiliated Faculty. Read her full bio here.

Michael C. Horowitz is Director of Perry World House and Richard Perry Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a member of CERL’s Affiliated Faculty. Read his bio here.

The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of any organization or university.