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As part of an effort
to maintain a degree of normalcy, classes were not canceled;
decisions about whether to hold or attend
classes in the immediate aftermath
of September 11's events were left to individual faculty members and students.
Campus
programs designed to provide an historical context and opportunities
for members
of the community to inform themselves further about the events
that began to unfold on September 11 were offered throughout
the year. Provost and Dean of the Faculty Bourque established
an ad hoc group to organize and oversee opportunities
for continuing discussion and reflection. Called the Ad Hoc
Committee to Develop a Curricular Response to the Events
of September 11, the group's members were: Martha Ackelsberg,
government; Rick Fantasia, sociology; Dan Horowitz, history
and American studies; Peter Gregory, religion; Elliot Fratkin,
anthropology; Ravina Aggarwal, anthropology; Kevin Quashie,
Afro-American studies; and Jessica Petocz and Erin Donohue,
SGA Student Curriculum Committee. The group planned a
series of panel discussions to be offered over the remaining
weeks of the semester. Topics included:
Speakers at an
all-college meeting September 11, which drew nearly 2,000 members of the
student body, faculty and staff were Acting President John
Connolly,
Provost Susan Bourque, Dean of the College Maureen Mahoney, Dean of Religious
Life Jennifer
Walters, Professor of Government Donna Divine and Sally Katzen '64, former
deputy director National Economic Council in the Clinton administration
where she was
also involved in planning scenarios designed to combat terrorist activities.
(Katzen happened to be on campus that day to speak to a government department
class.)
Read
Acting President John Connolly's remarks >>
On September 13, the office
of the dean of the college and the dean of the faculty sponsored
a faculty panel on the "Historical
and Comparative Perspectives on Tuesday's Events." Panelists
included Tandeka Nkiwane, government; Dan Horowitz, history
and American studies; Floyd Cheung, English and American
studies;
Michael Klare, Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies,
with Martha Ackelsberg, government department, as moderator.
The discussion was followed
by a campuswide candlelight walk/vigil starting on Chapin lawn and winding
through the campus to a location near Paradise Pond near
the boathouse. This communal
response was organized by Shayna Hnatowich '02 with the help of Heidi Haghighi,
Chase House, RC.
On September 14, at a luncheon, "Conversation
about Teaching," members
of the faculty discussed the week's events and their curricular impact.
Dean of the College Maureen Mahoney and some of her staff, as well as
faculty members
from the School for Social Work joined the discussion.
Smith joined with
the nation in observing the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance
for the victims of the terrorist attacks. Bells rang
at noon
on September 14, followed by a concert offered by music department faculty and the Smith
College Glee Club in Sweeney Concert Hall.
Karen Pfeifer, Smith College
economics department, and N. Gordon Levin, Amherst College
history department, were the speakers at a discussion, "The
Middle East Crisis: What Path Ahead?" Wednesday,
September 19, at Amherst College.
Smith College students took
part in a national collegiate day of action Thursday,
September 20 with a noon rally on
the steps of John M. Greene
Hall. Students,
faculty and administrators from more than 100 colleges and universities
around the country gathered in support of peace, and in opposition to
violence and
racism.
Students from Scales, King and
Jordan houses raised $840 for the Red Cross disaster relief
fund at a September 23 car wash.
Nawal El Saadawi,
Egyptian medical doctor, writer, political activist and feminist spoke
about "Women, Globalization and Fundamentalism" in
Sweeney Concert Hall, Friday, September 28. El Saadawi has published
24 books in Arabic and is
popular among English -speaking audiences as well. Despite her literary
success, she has been repeatedly punished by the Egyptian government
because her experience
as a medical doctor lead her to write about the taboo issue of womanhood
and sexuality. The lecture was organized by comparative literature,
Afro-American studies, Meridians, and Middle Eastern studies with co-sponsors
women's
studies,
Office of Institutional Diversity and Women and Social Change.
The Campus
Climate Working Group held its first meeting of the year on Tuesday,
October 2. Discussion focused on the differing viewpoints
on
how to proceed
with the war on terrorism and how we maintain civility in discussing
the proposed responses of individuals and governments, respecting
the experiences
and beliefs
of all members of our community.
The Department of English and
the Poetry Center sponsored "What Is Found
There," a lunchtime gathering "to share poems to which
we have turned for comfort and understanding since September 11," Tuesday,
October 2.
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive
director of the UN Population Fund, spoke to an open meeting
of WST 101 about "Gender and
Reproductive Health," Thursday,
October 11. Toraya Obaid is a Saudi woman who came to the United
States in 1962 to attend Mills College. Preparation for those enrolled
in the
class includes
readings about ways of making Islamic cultures accessible to Westerners,
particularly with regard to women, beyond stereotypes that have
tended to shape our assumptions.
Marty Nathan, director of the
Greensboro Justice Fund and widow
of Michael Nathan, who was killed by Ku Klux Klan members and
Nazis in the 1979
Greensboro Massacre,
discussed the conflicting strivings for justice, vengeance, truth
and recovery for terror victims as well as the September 11 events
at a
lecture Monday,
October 15. Her lecture was titled "Terrorism: Does Vengeance
Assist Recovery?"
Robert D. Kaplan, author of "The Coming Anarchy," "Balkan
Ghosts," and
the forthcoming "Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands
a Pagan Ethos," and
a long-time visitor to and expert on Afghanistan and Central
Asia, spoke about "The
World in 2010: Security Challenges for a New Age" at 7:30
p.m. Monday, October 15 at Amherst College. The lecture was co-sponsored
by the department
of political
science at Amherst and the Five College Program in Peace and
World Security Studies.
Larry Lifschultz, journalist
and co-editor of "Why Bosnia? Writings on the
Balkan War" and "Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on
the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy," spoke
about the history of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the U.S. and
the implications for antiwar activism Tuesday,
October 16 at Hampshire College. Lifschultz was based in Pakistan
as a Senior Fulbright
Fellow and is currently a research associate at Yale University's
Center for International and Area Studies. The event was cosponsored
by the Population
and
Development Program, the Civil Liberties and Public Policy
Program and the FC Peace and World Security Studies Program.
Two
lectures, sponsored by the Kahn Institute's project on "Religious
Tolerance and Intolerance" were recommended by the ad
hoc committee to develop a curricular response to the events
of September 11. On Tuesday, October 23, Dr. Vamik Volkan
of the Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction
at the University of Virginia presented "Targeting the
West: Religious Fundamentalism From a Psychoanalytic Point
of View.
On Wednesday, October 24, Dr. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im,
the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, Emory University
School of Law, presented "The Atrocities of September
11 in Islamic and Global Perspectives." Read
more about the lectures.
During the month of
October, a series of student-driven, faculty-moderated discussions,
organized
by the SGA, were
held in residential
areas around campus. Members of
the Smith community came together to discuss their diverse
opinions in open and respectful forums to explore the varying
political
choices that
face
us after
the events of September 11. Members of the faculty moderated
discussion among students and contribute academic and personal
perspectives
and opinions to
the forums.
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October
11 at Wilder House -- Comstock, Wilder, Morrow, Wilson
and Gardner. Kevin Quashie and Anna Sloan will be faculty
moderators; Rachel Jennings will be joined by other
student panelists.
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October
18: King House hosting King, Scales, Jordan, Emerson,
Cushing
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October
18: Tyler House hosting Lawrence, Tyler, Morris, Hubbard,
Washburn; Don Robinson and Tandeka Nkiwane
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October
23: Chapin House hosting Park, Hopkins, Haven, Tenny,
150 Elm, Chapin; Marc Steinberg and Vicky Spelman
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October
23: Albright House hosting Chase, Duckett, Dawes, Albright,
Baldwin, Adas and off-campus students; Dan Horowitz
and Ravina Aggarwal
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October
25: Cutter House hosting Parsons, Capen, Sessions,
Cutter, Ziskind; Martha Ackelsberg and Elliot Fratkin
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October
25: Lamont House hosting Lamont, Talbot, Northrup,
Gillett; Marc Lendler
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The Staff Council invites
the Smith community to participate in Cut from
the Same Cloth, "a visual representation of our emotions created
through interactive
art."
Read
more about the project >>
October 30 Panel: "Contested
Geographies: History and Geopolitics in the Middle East,
South and Central Asia." Panelists: Robert Haddad, professor
emeritus of history, "On Muslim and Arab Hostility towards
the West";
Donna Divine, professor of government, "Waging War for
Heaven and Earth";
and Kavita Khory, associate professor of politics, Mount
Holyoke College, "Internal
and External Policies of Pakistan in Light of September 11." Moderator:
Elliot Fratkin, associate professor of anthropology.
"9.11 Reflection & Response" was
an exhibition of photographs made by Smith College Photography
1 students
in response to the events
of September 11.
These images, on view at Java Net Cafe, 24 Main Street, Northampton,
through November 18, were both symbolic and literal in reaction
to the shock, grief,
rage, disbelief, vulnerability, empathy, tenderness, strength,
and hope that all have experienced, reflected upon, and to
which we continue to
respond.
Christine White-Ziegler of the
biology department presented "Anthrax and
the Biology of Bioterrorism" on Monday, November
5 as part of the
2001-02 colloquium series in the biological sciences, biochemistry,
neuroscience, environmental
science and marine sciences. "The Middle East After
September 11." Alan Dowty, professor of government
and international studies and fellow, Joan Kroc Institute
for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame.
Dowty has published more than 130 articles
and reviews and is a commentator on Middle East policy issues.
Wednesday, November
7. Sponsors: Near East studies fund and Hillel.
November 13
Panel: "The Colors of Nationalism." Moderators:
Suheir Hammad, poet and activist; Ambreen Hai, English department;
Alice Hearst,
government department.
"Ethics and Politics: Responding
to the Events of September 11," a
conversation among several Smith faculty members and the
audience, was held on Wednesday,
November 28. Participating were: Martha Ackelsberg, government;
Patrick Coby, government; Mickey Glazer, sociology; Daniel
Horowitz, American studies;
and
Stephen Marshall, Mendenhall Fellow, government.
Students
in WST 300 presented their research and analysis on the topic "September
11th and After: A Feminist Perspective" in an interactive,
multi-media workshop/teach-in Wednesday, December 5.
"Activism in the Aftermath:
The Future of Politics in a Post-9/11 World" was
held Friday, December 7 in John M. Greene Hall. The featured
speakers were Naomi Klein, journalist and author of the best-selling
book "No Logo"; Mark
Crispin Miller, Professor at New York University and author
of The Bush Dyslexicon";
and Douglas Rushkoff, Journalist and the author of "Coercion." Video
clips of other prominent scholars and activists addressing
the topic of the symposium included Noam Chomsky, Nawaal
el Saadawi, Robin Morgan, Howard
Zinn and Rabbi
Michael Lerner, among others. Sponsored by the Smith College
Ad Hoc Committee to Develop a Curricular Responses to 9/11,
the Smith College CAP Globalization
Initiative and the Media Education Foundation.
Throughout
the fall, the Office of the Chaplains offered "Repairing
the World: Reflections on Hope in Troubled Times" at
Helen Hills Hills Chapel, weekdays from 12:30 - 12:50 p.m.
The ringing of the chapel bells
at 12:25 p.m.
was followed by a short service of readings, silent meditation
and a brief message of hope offered by a different member
of the college community
each day. Readings
were drawn from many different religious and spiritual texts.
Dr.
Patrick Clawson, former senior Defense Department analyst
and economist at the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund,
and currently
director of
research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,
spoke about "Why
War is the Best Way to Counter Terrorism" Thursday,
January 31. Responses to Clawson's lecture were provided
by Gregory White of the government department
and Kum-Kum Bhavnani , editor of the journal, Meridians:
Feminism, Race, Transnationalism.
The Ad Hoc Committee to
Develop a Curricular Response to the Events of September
11 co-sponsored a public forum entitled "A Stake in
Civil Liberties: A Northampton Town Meeting" Monday,
February 4 at First Churches, 129 Main Street, Northampton.
Participants in the forum, introduced by Northampton Mayor
Clare Higgins, addressed
concerns about threats to civil liberties in the U.S. in
the aftermath
of September 11. Panelists included Michael Bardsley, Northampton
City Council president;
William Newman, director, American Civil Liberties Union
of Western MA; Tandeka Nkiwane, assistant professor of government,
Smith College; and
Russell Sienkiewicz,
Northampton police chief. |
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