--- description: Apparently the British are more resilient to terrorist threats that their American cousins title: Top Oxford Don Says the U.S. ‘Overreacted’ to 9/11 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [U.K.](/tag/u-k/) ## U.K. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Top Oxford University Academic Says the U.S. ‘Overreacted’ to 9/11 by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 3, 2015 8:33 AM CUT by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 3, 2015 8:33 AM CUT Incoming Oxford University vice chancellor Louise Richardson said this week that the U.S. overreacted to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, thanks in large part to the American populace’s lack of exposure to violent extremism, [according](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11645939/New-Oxford-University-vice-chancellor-says-US-over-reacted-to-911.html "undefined") to a report in the U.K. _Telegraph_. The professor, who specializes in the study of terrorism, made the remarks during a British Council conference in London on Tuesday. During a panel discussion focusing on radicalization in universities, Richardson added that the British have historically had a much more levelheaded response to terrorism. “The British population in the course of the Troubles and violence in Northern Ireland proved really quite resilient, I think far more so than the U.S.,” said Richardson. “And the scale of the overreaction in the U.S. to the 9/11 atrocity was reflective of the fact that it was such a new experience in the U.S.” Last week, Richardson was nominated to become Oxford University’s new vice chancellor, making her the first woman to hold the position since its creation in 1230, [reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/education-32977768 "undefined") the BBC. [Read more at the _Telegraph_](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11645939/New-Oxford-University-vice-chancellor-says-US-over-reacted-to-911.html "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3906776/oxford-university-september-11-terrorism-9-11-louise-richardson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3906776/oxford-university-september-11-terrorism-9-11-louise-richardson/"},"headline":"Top Oxford University Academic Says the U.S. ‘Overreacted’ to 9/11","datePublished":"2015-06-03T08:33:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:51:22.043Z","description":"Apparently, the British are historically more resilient to terrorist threats","url":"https://time.com/3906776/oxford-university-september-11-terrorism-9-11-louise-richardson/","keywords":["U.K.","Britain","U.S.","Terrorism","london","9/11"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/u-k/","name":"U.K."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3906776/oxford-university-september-11-terrorism-9-11-louise-richardson/","name":"Top Oxford University Academic Says the U.S. ‘Overreacted’ to 9/11"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Meet ISIS' Leader, The Most Successful Terrorist Leader Since Osama Bin Laden","description":"There's a name that you should remember: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the commander of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), whose fighters now control large swaths of Iraq.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BChA50n2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-06-12T22:05:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BChA50n2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3906776/oxford-university-september-11-terrorism-9-11-louise-richardson/","duration":"PT4M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3906776/oxford-university-september-11-terrorism-9-11-louise-richardson/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```