After Sept. 11, 2001, many Americans turned their attention to the threat of terrorism on home soil. In this climate of raised awareness, universities around the country are beginning to offer classes that directly relate to the current terror climate.
Last year, Ohio State University added a class entitled "Terror and Terrorism." It was so popular that administrators quickly added another similar course, "The Development and Control of Weapons of Mass Destruction." In the class, students analyze threats and write up damage assessments. Other schools have added potential majors in homeland security.
Tufts is not out of the loop in this new scramble to add classes directly related to the volatile world climate. Next year, Tufts is scheduled to have a new course entitled - like Ohio State's course - "Terror and Terrorism."
According to Chairman of the Political Science Department Vickie Sullivan, the course will be taught by a new professor who is "a scholar of the political thought of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes and Herder." Sullivan added that he will also be teaching classes on those philosophers in addition to the class on terrorism.
Freshman Katie Wulster expressed interest in this course's coming to Tufts, saying that it would make students more aware of possible terrorism-related dangers. "It's hard to fathom [the real repercussions]," she said. "It would help if you really had to examine it."
In addition to that upcoming course, the ExCollege is currently offering a class entitled "The U.S. and the Middle East," and the Political Science department is offering courses such as "America and Democracy in Iraq" and "Israeli Domestic Politics."
These courses, however, tend to gravitate more toward the historical and theoretical than the specifically current: "The US and the Middle East," for example, deals more with the process of international conflict resolution than with drawing up a specific peace plan.
Sullivan feels that Tufts has a good balance of classes devoted exclusively to current events and classes that are more theoretical.
"As a department, we strive to be scholars who can analyze an ever-changing political landscape, and we endeavor to give our students the same type of skills," Sullivan said.
Sullivan added that "all of the offerings of the Political Science Department at Tufts offer students the tools with which to understand and analyze current-day events, even though they are not always devoted exclusively to the current events themselves."
Instead of the career-oriented courses offered by Ohio State, Tufts' courses are based on historical context in order to allow students to draw their own conclusions.
"[Undoubtedly], students who enroll in 'Origins of Islamic Political Thought' will emerge with a deeper understanding of the tensions and challenges in today's Middle East because they will have a deeper understanding of its past and its deepest aspirations," Sullivan said.
Sophomore Michael Devine feels that Tufts does a good job covering the historical background of current events. "[International Relations] theory classes do a good job explaining why things happen," he said.
Senior Matan Chorev, who teaches "The U.S. and the Middle East," finds the historical background Tufts courses provide necessary to understanding the conflicts of today. "To study [weapons of mass destruction] without the historical context of the Cold War, the crisis in Cuba, or the intellectual background of realism is insufficient," Chorev said.
Chorev pointed out that universities have a tendency towards "reactionary behavior" in creating curriculums. He cited a similar situation during the Cold War era, when "universities drove to alter their curriculum in order to educate the students so that we could better confront the communist challenge."
Tufts has experienced a similar upsurge in topical areas recently: interest in Arabic has exploded, and the school has added several course sections to accommodate interested students.
Chorev's course aims to add other viewpoints to those already offered. Students in "The U.S. and the Middle East" are able to talk with their counterparts from seven universities in the Middle East through a webcam.
"The death of a Palestinian in Ramallah is no longer a distant construction of imagination but now has a human connection," Chorev said. "Having this visceral connection impacts one's decision making. Events can now hit close to home."
"[International Relations] classes do a good job explaining why things happen," said sophomore Kenneth Burden, who is in Chorev's class. "This, [though], puts a face on politics."
"I'd only had big lecture classes [in IR]," Devine said. "This [class] seemed more interesting."
