New RSO questions validity of 9/11 attacks, calls for explanations
Nearly a decade has passed since Sept. 11, 2001, and many still vividly remember the fateful day when about 3,000 Americans lost their lives.
However, some are demanding a new explanation for the disaster.
A new registered student organization, 9/11 Truth, has been formed at Central Michigan University in an attempt to raise awareness of the physically unique collapses of the World Trade Center towers. The group follows the views of the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, a group of more than 1,400 architects and engineers who have signed a petition demanding a federal investigation to re-explore the nature of the collapses.
Waterford junior Jared Weston formed the group after spending years conducting his own research on the 9/11 skyscraper collapses. Weston believes one of the most peculiar happenings on Sept. 11, 2001 was the collapse of 7 World Trade Center, which was not struck by a plane.
“What motivated me was the failure of the 9/11 Commission report to adequately address the collapse of building seven,” Weston said. “No steel high rises have ever collapsed from fire in the history of steel high rises, yet we have three instances all on the same day.”
Some students on campus, including Rochester Hills junior Peter Fornasiero, believe the group stands for just another conspiracy.
"Conspiracy theories are always just conspiracy theories," Fornasiero said. "There's not always a hidden truth behind everything."
Petoskey senior Zachary Drake has no objections to groups like 9/11 Truth being started on campus, but is not sure what the group hopes to accomplish.
"What could positively affect us now that won't dig up old scars?" Drake said.
9/11 Truth also supports the "Remember Building seven" campaign, a group started by victims’ family members, architects and engineers who all demand an explanation for the collapse of the seldom-remembered 7 World Trade Center.
“Building seven was not hit by an airplane, and this building fell at free-fall speed smoothly and symmetrically into its own footprint, through the path of greatest resistance,” Weston said.
The new RSO hopes to raise awareness of the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth and eventually hopes to bring Richard Gage, the organization's founder, to speak at CMU.
9/11 Truth is inviting professional engineer Stanley A. Beattie, a volunteer for the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, to speak at 5 p.m. Tuesday in Pearce 128 about the nature of the destruction of the skyscrapers. The event is free and open to the public.
