Organized on campus by College Democrats and Amnesty International, Centenary Student Awareness Week started Monday, March 10th and will go through March 14th.
There will be a Student/Professor Panel on Wednesday, March 12th at 5 pm in the Student Union Building to focus on these pressing issues. The panel will be divided into two sections: Focus on Darfur, and then Focus on Iraq. The panelists will include Dr. Rodney Grunes, Chair of History and Political Science Departments, Dr. Chris Cioccetti, Philosophy Department Chair and head of recent Ethics Forum, and Dr. Kim Vanhoosier-Carey, assistant professor of English and Director of the Academic Resource Center. The speakers will present on their given topics and then the session will open to questions.
In the Centenary "quad", Amnesty placed 3,000 flags to signify all those who have been displaced and killed by the ongoing conflict in Darfur. Each flag represents 1,000 displaced or killed Darfuri in Sudan.
In the shell, the College Democrats have a two-part display: the first to commemmorate the 4,000 United States soldiers who have died fighting in Iraq, and the second to emphasize the 935 lies the Bush administration told to stir up support
for the war. The commemoration
for the 4,000 soldiers is expressed through the display of 2,000 standing golf tees in the shape of a peace sign. This peace sign sits underneath a banner with 935 playing cards spelling the word "Lies."
The study that produced the 935 number was done by the Center
for Public Integrity, who studied the statements of President Bush and seven top officials, including Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld. The period covered was from September 11, 2001 to September 11, 2003.
The war in Iraq began on March 19, 2003 - the Democrats' event will take place near the 5-year anniversary of the beginning of the war. More information can be found at
www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard.
Amnesty International Presiden Megan Ottensen sums it up,
"As a college community dedicated to knowledge and connecting with the world, we hope to bring attention to major world issues that many Americans don't know much about. Because the Iraq War affects all of us, not just the soldiers and their families, each American deserves to know exactly why we are sending soldiers to Iraq, how this war could have been avoided, and what the war's longterm consequences may be."
On a more international scope, every college student should also know what the name "Darfur" means, where this region is (Sudan, Africa fyi), and why we should care that genocide occurs. The demonstrations in the Quad and the Shell illustrate the large scope of these conflicts, and I hope they will compel students to come to the forum on Wednesday to learn more from
fellow students and professors. I want them to ask questions, form their own opinions, and most of all, leave knowing more!
Lastly, there will be petitions and a draft letter at the forum to send to
students' congressmen about the war and Darfur."
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