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Classroom on the Quad
Welcome and Introductions
Bruce Knauft, Faculty Council

Jim Grimsley, Faculty Council

Purvi Patel, College Council

Donna Wong, Campus Life

Iraq: The Challenge of Responsibility
Rick Doner, Political Science

Weapons of Mass Destruction and U.S. Foreign Policy
Dan Reiter, Political Science

A Call to Words
Asanka Pathiraja, Foreign Policy Exchange

Hearing in Eqanimity: Deciding Your Path
Bobbi Patterson, Religion

The Necessity of War with Iraq
Bob Bartlett, Political Science

The Humanitarian Cost of War
Laurie Patton, Religion

A Man of Honor: The President's Noble Vision
Daniel Hauck, College Republicans

Women: War and Peace
Lili Baxter, Women's Studies

The Morality of War
James Tarter, Students for War Against Terrorism

Speak Up or Get Out
Erin Harte, Young Democrats

War Does Not Resolve Conflict, War Is Conflict
Mark Goodale, Anthropology

A War of Liberation
Frank Lechner, Sociology

A Call to Consciousness, A Litany of Questions
Juana Clem McGhee, Institute for Comparative and International Studies

Student Activism: Ways to Be Involved
Erik Fyfe and Rachael Spiewak, Emory Peace Coalition

Cross-Cultural Communication: U.S. and Iraq
Devin Stewart, Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies

The U.S. Has Never Been Alone in the World
William Chace, University President

On the evening of January 16, 1991
I stood in the pulpit of Glenn Auditorium
to read scripture for an annual gathering of clergy.
What was to be a celebratory event
changed in the afternoon hours leading up to the worship service
as the U.S. began military action against Iraq.

Now twelve years later
I stand in the midst of this learned community
with U.S. troops again at war in Iraq.
What can I possibly say that will make a difference?

On this particular occasion
and as often is the case
in these middle years of my life
I find myself stretched somewhere
between what is seemingly so simple & what is actually quite complex
between theory and practice
between my head and my heart.

I like to think
that as I grow older
I also grow a bit wiser.
But the more I learn
the more I realize how much there is to learn.
I seem to have more questions than answers
about many things
and especially about this war.

I’m skeptical anytime I hear “either or” language
That tends to oversimplify a given situation
And overlook many significant matters.
I no longer see the world in terms of opposites
Or extremes that tend to polarize
Or ultimatums that cause great harm.
I believe that there are always alternatives, options, possibilities & choices
if we will only look and listen, near and far, one and all.

We are part of a long history
and interconnected relationships.
Situations seem to re-present themselves time and time again.
We continue to try to resolve them
with the same kinds of approaches
with the same kinds of results.
We head down the same path
And we end up at the same destination.
Perhaps it’s time to select a different route,
to choose another way,
if change is really what we’re after.

Is it really only a choice
Of going to war or not going to war?
Of taking military action or taking no action?
Is that truly all there is?
Are those the only choices we have?
Is there nothing else we can do?
Or is there something else we can try?

Would our perspectives and decisions be different
If we lived in closer proximity to the Middle East?
If we could hear the sirens screaming in our ears day and night?
If we could feel the earth shaking below our bellies on the ground?
If we could smell the smoke burning in our nostrils?
If we could see nothing but sand swirling before our eyes?

Would our leaders choose differently
If there were no safe underground shelters
for them to hide in, here and abroad?
If they themselves were on the front lines of the battlefields
staring the stranger in the eye, with their finger on the trigger?
If they were the ones who buried the dead,
treated the wounded and consoled the mourning?
Would they then make the same choices?

Is there nothing better we can do
with our time, our money, our lives?
Is there no other, more beneficial way
to spend $75 billion in thirty days?
Is it the case, as it was in 1991
that 146 U.S. deaths are equivalent to 158,000 Iraqi deaths?
How do we honestly & responsibly justify such actions?

How can I possibly explain any of this
to my young daughters
as we read the magazine covers in the check out line of the grocery store?
As we stand on the courthouse lawn,
raising candles in a vigil for peace?
As they share a classroom, a playground, a lunch table
with children from Ethiopia, Sudan, Vietnam, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq?

What can I offer them as a guide
as they learn from the past,
live in the present
And hope for the future?
What can I offer you on this day
that might make a difference?

Only this…

Think critically,
imagine with creativity.
Listen attentively,
speak with wisdom.
Act responsibly,
respond with compassion.

Ask yourself this question:
Not, what are you willing to die for?
But rather, what are you willing to live for?