The 9-11 Open Response Committee has gained a greater influence and resources after securing ten thousand dollars in funding from the Office for Institute Diversity at the end of the fall semester.
“What happened on September 11 changed our lives forever. It is important to view where we stand,” said Deborah Nazon, Assistant Provost for Institute Diversity.
With the help of the grant, the Open Response committee has continued its work and this spring semester introduced a forum series titled “Global Citizenship: Thinking Through 9-11”. The forums have been continued because “many questions won’t be answered immediately,” according to Don Moore, director for H&SS and a committee founder. Kim Fortun, assistant dean of H&SS and one of the founders of the committee, believes that there is a need for “sustained campus dialogue for contemporary social events.”
“These forums are not to be seen as something overly connected to H&SS, but rather as a way for RPI to create well-rounded citizens,” Fortun said. The group feels that it is important for people to attend these forums as a way to understand global processes.
“The committee is trying to help the campus look beyond September 11,” Nazon said. “As an institute, we are trying to look at this on a much larger scale and see these forums as a way to answer the question of ‘What does it mean to be a global citizen?’”
Given the demanding nature of RPI, the biggest challenge facing the committee is getting people to attend the forums. “We need to get to the point where events like this aren’t seen as extra, but as integral,” said Fortun. Letters have been sent out encouraging faculty members to attend the events with their classes, more posters have been placed around campus, and the forums were deliberately scheduled at a time that would allow most students to attend, all in an effort to promote a larger turnout.
Each forum has been planned by a group of students and faculty members to have one to four speakers. Moore said that the committees are “working to make them [the forums] as interactive as possible.” Last semester the attendance increased when the forums were more interactive said Moore.
The 9-11 Open Response Committee formed from informal discussions between students and faculty immediately following the tragedies of September 11. The founders of the group shared a commitment to creating an opening dialogue on campus.
They were a group who wanted to answer, “How should a university respond?” and stressed that while “the group does not necessarily agree with each other politically, it has a shared commitment for sharing political dialogues, ” said Fortun.
The first forum this semester, titled “Afghanistan: Past, Present and Future”, drew approximately 300 people to DCC 308 on Monday. The next forum will be on February 26 and is titled The Widening War: Rethinking Iraq after 9-11.
In the fall semester the committee scheduled two open forums and held three film screenings without a budget last semester. Moore has said that the members are working as part of a “voluntary group effort, not as a part of any formal responsibilities.”
The first forum focused on tensions between security and civil liberties. “Profiling made it crucial to open a dialogue for diverse perspectives,” according to Fortun. Part of the Rensselaer plan was broadening RPI’s global reach. “These seminars are a way of meeting those goals,” said Fortun.
The new grant has started plans to continue holding forums under a new topic next year. Ideas include Biotechnology and the Future of Human Health, and IT and Social Change.
