Last Thursday evening, a panel of six professors convened in the ballroom of the University Center to hold a dialogue about the impending war with Iraq. The event was coordinated by the NKU organization Students for Peace.

“I think it went extremely well,” said Becky Carter, a member of Students for Peace. “Such events will open up NKU to the peace movement and make people aware of how they can take part in it. Just planting the seed goes far, and that’s what we’re hoping to do.”

The audience was composed of a variety of students, as well as a few professors.. While the purpose of the forum was to advocate anti-war sentiment, at least a couple of pro-war proponents were also in attendance. Despite a mildly heated debate toward the end of the meeting, everything ran orderly.

Each of the professors had ten minutes to speak, and at the end of the hour the floor was opened to the audience for a chance to either make a statement or pose questions.

Dr. Jerald Richards, chair of the Philosophy department, kicked off the assembly with a poignant speech highlighting some of the reasons a war with Iraq would be a “mistake,” detrimental as well as morally incorrect.

He touched on several points, including the opinion that this war would “set a precedent for other nations to violate international law,” that were later reinforced and elaborated on by the other professors who spoke at the assembly.

Dr. Richards also offered suggestions for the United States as a nation to “maintain a healthy sense of hope,” with regard to making changes in our culture. We should, he said, “make Peace Education a priority,” and ended his speech with “there’s room for hope.”

The next speaker, Dr. Prince Brown Jr., Associate Professor of Sociology, delivered a speech with quotations taken from a book by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”

Dr. Brown reiterated the belief that there are alternatives to going to war with Iraq. “The French plan is a good one,” he explained, “if the objective of the world is to disarm Iraq.”

All in all, the speakers were in basic accordance that the decision to go to war would be a mistake, as Dr. JoEllen Burkholder phrased it, this issue “goes far beyond any base dollar amount.”

Each speaker delivered equally pointed speeches, outlining their beliefs and reasoning for opposing a war with Iraq.

While the event was an overall success, common sentiment was that had more people attended, it would have been an even greater success.

Desera Favors, a student of NKU and member of the audience, said that, “It was very informative to hear everybody’s opinion. I don’t think it’ll do anything as far as the war goes, but it inspired me to do more research on the subject.”.

Favors echoed the wish for a larger audience. “I wish more people would have been here. It would have benefited a lot of people.”