SAMANTHA BLONS
Assistant News Editor
SGA will host Pepperdine’s first Iraq War Week this month, set to include a campus panel discussion as well as several events to honor veterans and soldiers serving overseas.
During the week of Nov. 27 to Nov. 30, students can join SGA in their efforts to raise political awareness on campus about the war. Though the dates of individual events are not yet finalized, programs will include a panel discussion between several faculty members and junior Richard Nye, who returned in September from a year of service in Iraq as a U.S. Army soldier.
“I want to educate people on the Iraq War because for people at Pepperdine and the rest of America, it has become more of an abstract subject,” Nye said.
“It’s very important that students get some first-hand knowledge [of the war effort,] from the horse’s mouth, from someone who was there. I hope they get an appreciation of what servicemen and women go through for the war.”
Dr. Dan Caldwell, professor of political science, will be among the two or three professors invited to speak on a panel to discuss the war.
He wrote in an e-mail that he hopes the event will encourage students to think about the war and their responses to it, as many of the soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are the age of many Pepperdine student.
“College students have the luxury of studying and learning, and I believe that with that privilege comes an obligation to be informed about important issues of the day,” Caldwell said.
Along with the debate, SGA will host a day trip to a Los Angeles-area Veterans Administrative hospital and a letter-writing event, at which students can send notes to soldiers in Iraq.
SGA members initiated a war awareness week because they noticed there had been little coverage of it on campus this fall, said senior Austin Maness, SGA vice president of administration.
He added that SGA is sponsoring Iraq War Week because members believe it is their responsibility to foster political consciousness among students.
“We want students to feel a sense of connection to the issues of the day,” Maness said. “We want them to feel like they’re part of a campus that actually cares about important issues – prescient topics like the Iraq War.”
Junior Andrea Rodriguez, SGA social action initiatives director, said the Iraq War Week programs are designed to raise awareness and allow students to hear both side of this controversial issue.
“It’s important for students to start thinking about these issues because the reality is that our country is in a war,” Rodriguez said. “Regardless of someone’s political views about the issue, I think it’s important that we as a campus support the troops who are overseas.”
Iraq War Week will have a “very low” overall budget, Maness said.
Aside from advertising flyers, the only major expense for which SGA has budgeted is $250 gifts to each faculty member who participates in the panel, he said.
11-15-2007