War with Iraq topic of talks

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Tuesday, October 15, 2002 - 4:00pm to Wednesday, November 6, 2002 - 4:00pm
Henri J. Barkey, the Bernard and Bertha Cohen Professor of International Relations, will kick off a series of talks on the possibility of war with Iraq at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8th in Lehigh's Humanities Center at 224 W. Packer Ave. Barkey, who served with the Office of Policy Planning in the U.S. State Department from 1998 to 2000, will speak on "War With Saddam: The Case For and Against." The series of talks,organized by professors from Lehigh University's departments of English, history, international relations, political science and religion studies, along with the Chaplain's Office, the Humanities Center and the Faculty Development program, are free and open to the public. "Our purpose is to create an awareness of how this historical moment can affect the students and, moreover, of what their responsibility is in determining whether the U.S. goes to war," says John Pettegrew, professor of history and one of the organizers of events. "In the past, American colleges and universities have played a crucial role in public debate about war and peace. We believe that it is urgently necessary for Lehigh and the wider community to engage in democratic discussion of the proposed war on Iraq." Nearly 50 faculty members across the university’s four colleges signed a full-page ad that recently ran in the Lehigh student newspaper, The Brown and White, asking: "Would you fight, kill and die to overthrow Saddam Hussein in Iraq?" The ad urged students to critically assess the war policy being promoted by the Bush administration, and "resist the rush to war." This year's events follow a teach-in organized last fall in response to the terrorist attacks of 9-11. "It was quite successful in engaging students in informed discussion," Pettegrew said. "We promised ourselves that we would continue to do more in that vein, and these talks are an outgrowth of that commitment." Each of the talks in the series will be held at the Humanities Center: All begin at 4 p.m. Future dates and topics are: Tuesday, October 15: "Terrorism, the U.S., and the Bombing of Civilians,"  by John Pettegrew, professor of history Tuesday, October 22: "Media Culture: Pounding the Drum for War vs. Imagining Peace," by Ted Morgan, professor of political science Wednesday, October 30: "War with Iraq: The Moral Issues," by Lloyd H. Steffen, university chaplain and professor of religion studies Wednesday, November 6: "Should We Support This War?" by Seth Moglen, professor of English.
 
For more information, contact Pettegrew at jcp5@lehigh.edu or 610-758-3355, or Dina Wills at dw03@lehigh.edu or 610-758-3638.