Sparse attendance at forum

Controversy over former President George H. W. Bush's lecture yesterday resulted in the creation of a student-faculty panel to discuss issues brought up by the speech.

Although the panel, which took place last night, was sparsely attended, the dialogue was spirited and covered a wide range of issues -- from the speech itself to the prospect of war in Iraq and how Tufts should respond.

Most of the panelists expressed discontent with Bush's performance. "I was disappointed by the lecture. It did not challenge me. It put me to shame," junior Zoe Hastings said.

The choice of Bush for the Fares lecture has been a highly contentious issue amongst both students and faculty. "Former President Bush is not open to discuss issues that concern him closely," History Professor Steven Marrone said. Marrone feels that "it is not the time to invite a person who is at the origin of the [current Middle East] policy and has a vested personal interest."

Marrone sent a letter to president Bacow expressing his discontent, suggesting that the selection process of President Bush was undemocratic and may be more closely linked to Fares' personal interests and business ambitions to meet "high rollers."

"Bush's lecture was not an exercise in intellectual diversity," as claimed by president Bacow, Marrone said.

However, former Editor-in-Chief of The Primary Source and senior Sam Dangremond dissented from the other panelists. Dangremond argued the expression of unpopular speech should be met with more intellectual debate.

Yet, only ten students and a few faculty members showed up to attend last night's panel. Everyone agreed that it was a disappointing turnout to an event that had sparked considerable protest.

Most of the panelists also disapproved of the current administration's stance towards the war. Hurst Hannun, professor of International Law at the Fletcher School, said that there is no verifiable evidence of a connection between Iraq and the al Qaeda network to support the war. For this reason, "most of the world thinks that [the United States] is crazy and that George W. Bush is the cowboy they thought he was."

According to Al Rubin, professor emeritus of International Law at Fletcher, there is no "satisfactory threat to peace" to compel the United States into taking action. Although Colin Powell revealed terrorist connections to the UN, Rubin said, he "used to work at the Defense Department and we didn't know many of the things that we claimed we knew."

Rubin argued that the war would also violate the UN Charter and corrupt the United States' global credibility.

Hastings agreed with the other panelists, contending that the president was deliberately spreading fear throughout the nation in an attempt to brood anti-Iraq sentiment.

"I was appalled because Bush spoke chauvinistically and was very sharp in his justifications of the way the world is and should be," Hastings said.

One of the last subjects discussed whether a moratorium on classes following a declaration of war would be a good idea. Dangremond felt that it should be students' choice to go to classes or not -- and that if professors choose to make a statement by suspending their courses, his freedom of choice is taken away.

Marrone and Hastings emphasized the importance of discussion, whether or not classes themselves are suspended. "We shouldn't be scared into silence," Hastings said. She said that on the morning of Sept. 11 the topic was not even brought up in class, a fact which bothered her.

"It's a major ethical question," said Marrone who has already discussed the war in several of his classes, offering to meet with students outside of class time if they so desired.

Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, one of the event organizers, said that in terms of plans to communicate with students about the war, the University may be "behind the curve."

"The best thing we can do is come together in the classroom," he said, although Reitman was uncertain whether the discussion should be held "if the subject of the class is not pertinent to the conflict," he said.