University students were given the opportunity to take part in a day of “dialogue, debate, and discussion,” on the topic of the United States and the World in the Bush Era, on Wednesday. Two of the highlighted events were “A Response to Terrorism” and “The Patriot Act, International Students and Hofstra.
The event on America’s response to terrorism-originally scheduled to be led by Colleen Kelly of the September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows-ended up being administered by a Laurence A. Krause, a professor of Sociology.
Krause, who teaches a course entitled “The Sociology of Terrorism” started the discussion by introducing the idea that terrorist are rational human beings.
“Once we learn to view them this way, we will be in a position to better understand the political process of their involvement,”he said.
Krause discussed what he considers to be mistaken beliefs regarding terrorism.
“In reality, India has the most terrorist activity,” he said. “St. Bartholomew’s Night in Paris was the deadliest act of terror in history.”
Kraus told the audience that prior to Sept. 11 the President of the Al Qaeda Network made a speech, in which he declared the goals of the organization. “Politicians should listen to terrorists-what do they think? What are their goals?” Kraus said.
“How do we [America] get out of the Iraq situation?” was the final question of the lecture.
“The question of America’s future involvement in Iraq relies directly on who becomes the next President,” Kraus said. “I believe if elected, Kerry will re-state American policy and internationalize the situation in Iraq, bringing our troops home in a timely fashion. Americans are not prepared or equipped to instate a Democracy in another country.”
One event specifically integrated the country’s Patriot Act and the University’s international students.
Greg Maney, Co-coordinator of the lecture, introduced “The Patriot Act, International Students and Hofstra.”
Julian Kickbusch, a German international exchange student and sophomore majoring in Political Science and Philosophy, shared his experiences upon coming into this country and how his fingerprints and a webcam picture were, which enables the person to be tracked everywhere they go.
“What’s next?” Kickbusch asked. “DNA?”
The U.S. Patriot Act of 2001, also known as the anti-terrorism bill, was initiated after the World Trade Center attack, has a great impact on foreign exchange students coming to America.
Dr. Jennifer Marsalis, director in the Office of International Students, discussed the computer system used to organize exchange students called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) currently in use at the University since Jan. 1, 2003.
Deboer questioned the effectiveness of the process, which he had to go through at upon his arrival.
Dr. Marsalis believes that The Patriot Act has discouraged students from coming to America.
“Nationally, there has been a drop in exchange students coming into America since the act took affect,” she said, “but at Hofstra, we previously had 71 countries represented, and right now we have 78.”
One student was hoping to hear a more divided discussion regarding this issue.
“I was disappointed that there wasn’t much disagreement among the panelists, senior print journalism major Steven Aptroot said. “Nobody took an opposing view.”