A few months before the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, President Barack Obama stood before the nation and revealed that the man behind those attacks had been killed in a joint operation between the United States Navy Seals and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Obama’s announcement May 1 about Osama bin Laden’s death has ignited a wide variety of feelings amongst Americans: excitement, relief and justice served. Here in Austin, the St. Edward’s University community is no exception to the wave of mixed emotion that has resulted.

For some, hearing about bin Laden’s death filled them with excitement.

“I was excited and surprised no one in the library was as excited,” St. Edward’s student Mike Smith said.

For St. Edward’s student Catherine Lippman-Bartkus, who found out about bin Laden’s death on Hulu, the excitement was delayed. Lippman-Bartkus said she was not excited until after she received a text message from her mom.

Senior Joeski Williams, who moved to New York after Sept. 11, said that his reaction was happiness.

“…I was kind of happy because of what he had done to the American people,” Williams said.

Not everyone reacted with excitement. Morgan Kelly, a junior, said that even though she understands that bin Laden represents the face of Sept. 11, she does not understand why other people are so thrilled.

“The most evil person in the world is dead, hurrah, but there’s just going to be someone else to take his place,” Kelly said. “One bad person is gone, but then 10 people will rise.”

Professor Alexandra Barron also did not take pleasure in hearing the news, but for a different reason.

“I am from New York and I knew people who died in the Towers, but I do not rejoice in anyone’s death,”