Educators respond to Sept. 11

Two of IU's departments are "doing their part" to help educate students in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.\nThe School of Public and Environmental Affairs is offering V450, "Disaster Planning and Management." The political science department is offering Y200, "Sept. 11 -- Before and After." \nChristine Barbour, who created Y200, found herself setting aside time while teaching after Sept. 11 to help students understand what was happening in the U.S. and around the world.\nBut Barbour realized a few minutes of each class was not enough time to give students a proper understanding of the the events surrounding the attacks.\n"It started to look like a class in my mind," Barbour said. "But I knew that there were certain issues that I just don't have the expertise to effectively teach."\nDrafting the experience and intellect from a team of 12 other political scientists, Barbour created the class.\n"We as political scientists know that Americans are not particularly oriented to foreign policy," Barbour said. "We realized that students had no idea what was going on in the Middle East."\nWith the formation of Y200, Barbour said students will gain a better sense of the events preceding Sept. 11, and can attempt to answer "Where do we go from here?"\nAssociate Professor Mike McGinnis, who is slated as one of the professors on the team that will teach the class, found it surprising the class was able to come together on such short notice.\n"I've been here for 17 years, and I cannot recall our faculty ever doing something like this," McGinnis said.\nWhile the political science department will take an objective approach to educating students about the effects of terrorism, SPEA will give students a more hands-on approach to dealing with crisis situations.\nGerald Marsischky, a former director of the Navy Safety School Project in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, will teach the course, which is being offered as an elective for students majoring in management, health and environmental science. It is open to all students.\nMarsischky will teach a similar course to Disaster Planning and Management called Preparation for Personal Safety During Disasters during the second eight weeks of the spring semester. It will cover how to handle the effects of terrorism and bioterrism. \nIn Disaster Planning and Management, students will learn strategies for planning and managing emergency operations when man-made disasters occur, SPEA Associate Professor Frank Vilardo said. They will also learn how to coordinate with various agencies that play an important role during the recovery stage of a disaster, such as police and fire departments and public health agencies. \n"With the events of Sept. 11, the course seems most appropriate at this point in time," Vilardo said. "It will give students an appreciation for the complexity of managing a severe crisis like this and an understanding of what to do when things go wrong."\nVilardo taught a similar course with Marsischky in 1986 and 1987 called Emergency Management Planning. The course taught principles of dealing with natural disasters. Students learned how to respond to the destruction of buildings by hurricanes or earthquakes but not terrorist attacks, Vilardo said. \nNow, a different type of emergency response faces the country.\n"Departments for managing disaster and emergency situations is something every government agency has right now," Vilardo said.\nThe relevance of the course has attracted many students to enroll, he added.\n"I think I will acquire the knowledge of how to deal with disasters, how to plan for them and come up with strategies ahead of time in order to lessen their impacts when they do occur," senior Eric Zlotogura said. Zlotogura is majoring in public management and will take the SPEA course.\nThe instructors of the classes hope to prepare students for future terrorist attacks and educate them on responding to changes in a global society. \n"We just want students to gain a better appreciation of the different perspectives of this conflict," McGinnis said. "This is all a reflection of how important the topic really is"