UNLV students quiet on Iraq issue

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, Oct. 17, 2002 | 9:11 a.m.

Thousands of students at universities throughout the country staged demonstrations, held teach-ins and wore arm bands last week to protest possible military action against Iraq.

But UNLV students and professors were largely silent on the issue.

"I guess people are so caught up in their daily lives that they don't really pay attention to issues like this," said Monica Moradkhan, president of UNLV's student body.

But Alan Zundel, a UNLV political science associate professor said that it's not so much that students don't care, it's that they feel they don't have much of a voice on international issues such as attacking Iraq.

"It's ambivalence in the sense of powerlessness because they feel they really don't have a say one way or another," Zundel said. "A lot of people feel like the president is going to make his decision and he doesn't really care about what people have to say."

The only sign of a bygone era when colleges were politically active is a small contingency of faculty members in Nevada who have joined nearly 12,000 professors across the country in opposing military action against Iraq.

So far, 22 professors at Nevada's two universities have signed the online petition of opposition. That's 19 more than two weeks ago, but still a tiny percentage of the approximately 1,400 full-time faculty members at the two universities.

The petition argues that military action against Iraq is illegal without support from the United Nations Security Council.

It also states that a military strike could destabilize the Middle East, cause domestic economic instability and unleash more terrorism on U.S. citizens.

"So many academics who understand what has happened throughout the Middle East are very concerned," said Katherine Fennelly, a public affairs professor at the University of Minnesota who helped create the petition.

Only nine faculty members at UNLV signed the petition.

"This isn't the '60s anymore," said Richard Wiley, a UNLV English professor who signed the petition. "I think there is a kind of time bomb in the country that has a long fuse. It wouldn't at all surprise me if this turns out to be a Vietnam thing."

UNLV officials say there is plenty of opportunity for teachers, and especially students, to have their opinions heard. Online letters such as the one circulated by the University of Minnesota present one opportunity. Forums and petition booths are another way, the officials said.

The problem is, not many are taking advantage of those opportunities.

UNLV professors recently held a series of student forums on Iraq, but they were not well attended, Moradkhan said.

A little card table sits outside UNLV's English building with petitions for students to sign. One petition reads, "Support Israel no matter what." Another reads, "No war."

Neither has received much student input.

And a poll on UNLV's student government website asks students if the U.S. should declare war on Iraq. The poll garnered only 46 votes. Half of the respondents said they would support a war, a quarter said no and the rest were undecided."