Academia Prioritizes State Harm Post‑9/11

At a Columbia symposium on the War on Terror, prominent academics, lawyers, and former detainees emphasized the harms of U.S. security measures (surveillance of Muslim communities, detention policies, overseas interventions) more than revisiting the terrorist threat itself. The panels argued that the machinery built after 9/11 has enduring effects on constitutional norms, international law, and minority communities in New York and beyond. — If academic and civic elites increasingly frame the post‑9/11 legacy as primarily a state‑inflicted harm, public debate and policy priorities (surveillance reform, de‑militarization, reparations, oversight) may shift away from traditional counterterror narratives.