U.S. Census Bureau director tells UVU students what he learned from 9/11

U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert L. Santos took a surprising lesson from the effects of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: the value of collecting data.

Speaking to Utah Valley University students Wednesday at an event hosted by the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, Santos emphasized that collecting data to accurately represent diverse demographics across the country is a “keystone to our democracy.”

Before he was the first Latino director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Santos was an executive vice president and partner of NuStats, which was awarded a contract in 2003 from the National Institutes of Science and Technology to do a survey of the survivors in the World Trade Center.

By interviewing survivors, Santos was able to get information that only people who were inside the Twin Towers could know, such as details about the infrastructure, whether or not sprinklers were functioning, what the building rafters looked like — “types of things we really needed to know to help best create better and safer buildings.”

Interviewing survivors was an “emotional” process, Santos said, but “we got really valuable information that helped come up with better building codes.”

“That’s the value of public policy data,” Santos told students gathered at UVU’s Orem Campus. He said the data the Census Bureau collects can have similarly positive effects on public policy on everything from housing needs to areas that need broadband access.

“We have a mission to serve as America’s leading provider of quality data about our people, our locations and about our economy,” Santos said. “Our nation is big and beautifully diverse. And it should come as no surprise that the data needs of its people and communication and communities vary as well.”

Santos is in Utah this week to hear from elected officials, community organizations, businesses, advocates, students and others about what their data needs are and how the Census Bureau can help.

Santos said he hopes local leaders can be made aware of the breadth of data available through the bureau. That data is a “a valuable asset that can help public policymakers make data-driven decisions. Our data can assist federal, state, local and tribal governments in equitably distributing resources and identifying underserved communities,” Santos said.

Collecting this data and using it to make informed public policy decisions is democracy at work, he said.

“Simply put,” Santos continued, “democracy is at risk when we no longer know who we are as a people, as an economy, as our nation. ... It’s really critical that we not just collect it, but that we put it up in a way that you can access it and use them.”

UVU honors victims of 9/11

Before the lecture, the university held a flag ceremony to honor the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Kayle Smith, director of UVU’s Military-Affiliated Student Hub, hosted the ceremony, where the Utah Valley University Police Department and Utah Valley University Army ROTC posted the colors, raising the flag to half mast as “Taps” played in front of an audience of students, members of the UVU presidential cabinet, and veterans and first responders. A moment of silence for the victims of 9/11 followed.

Smith remarked on how the effects of the terrorist attacks still reverberate 23 years later.

“Many students here at UVU have used and continue to utilize VA educational benefits made available by those who served or are dependents of those who served in the United States military as a result of the events on 9/11,” Smith said. “In honor of all the lives lost 23 years ago, and in honor of all those who have given their whole souls to the cause of this nation every moment since, may today not only be observed with solemn remembrance, but also with renewal and resolve together that we may continue to demonstrate that the rights and freedoms that those terrorists sought to destroy on Sept. 11, 2001, remain unwavering and strengthened by generations of Americans who have dared — and dared all — and risked all to defend, protect and preserve our democracy.

“UVU will never forget.”

Smith, who himself is a veteran with almost 28 years of military experience, told the Deseret News that this is the first time since COVID-19 that the university held a flag-raising ceremony on the anniversary of 9/11.

“I felt it was important to not only remember the events that transpired today, but remember all of the lives that have been affected as a result of this,” Smith said.

To honor those lives, 2,977 small flags representing each life lost during the attacks were placed on the university’s front lawn.