From Washington University Magazine
October 2011 Issue
For Arsalan Iftikhar (AB ’99, JD ’03), the catastrophe of September 11, 2011, changed everything. After sending a condemnatory statement to major U.S. newspapers, he became a much-sought-after media analyst.
Whether they awoke to a ringing phone at 5:46 a.m. Pacific time or were gulping coffee-to-go a little before 9 back East, Americans everywhere tend to remember how they heard the unthinkable on Sept. 11, 2001: that planes had crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center. Arsalan Iftikhar, AB ’99, JD ’03, was a second-year law student asleep in his dorm room in the university’s Village residential area when his call came in.
“I jerked awake,” Iftikhar recalls. “It was a law school classmate. She said, ‘Turn on the TV.’ I did, and the North Tower was smoking. Shortly after the second plane hit, news networks were saying who might be responsible — and I knew immediately that the Muslim community needed to issue a very quick statement condemning the attacks.”
At that moment, 10 days after his 24th birthday, Arsalan Iftikhar’s life changed.
Read Full Magazine Profile on Arsalan Iftikhar in October 2011 Issue Here…
