CIDR originally developed this page as a resource for the UW Day of Reflection on the War in Iraq, held on April 23, 2003.
In his message to UW faculty, staff, and students, Interim President Lee Huntsman writes,
The military action in Iraq is a cause of deep concern to all of us no matter where each of us stands on the issues of American policy .... We all join in hoping that the war will be brief and that the death and suffering it inflicts can be held to a minimum, both for our own men and women in uniform and for the people of Iraq.
Beyond that common hope, there will remain deep disagreements among us. It cannot be otherwise in a community devoted, as ours is, to pursuing thought and knowledge wherever they may lead, and to cherishing the free expression of opinion. I trust that even in a time of high emotion this will remain a campus where all feel free to speak their minds.
This page offers principles and strategies for discussing the conflict in Iraq with your students, knowing that students' strongly held positions, concerns, or other personal ties to the situation could greatly affect their participation in a class in which it is discussed.
At CIDR we have developed these guidelines and resources to help you think through how events might affect your students and how you might talk about them in your class.
Among your students, there is likely to be a range of strongly held positions about the conflict, and some may have personal ties to these events because friends or relatives are directly affected by the war or serving in the military. Certainly even those who do not have personal ties to the events may still be strongly affected by them.
If you expect the war to be a topic of discussion in your class, it will be important for you to be aware of the range of positions represented among your students. For general suggestions to help you think about understanding students' perceptions coming into your course, see CIDR guidelines for Getting to Know the Students in Your Course.
Students may hesitate to participate if they think their views will not be welcome in class. Also, some members of Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and other minority communities have been targets of attack in the recent past, and students from these communities may be concerned about how others will respond to them. Be prepared to make an explicit statement that all students are welcome in your class, and that you expect students to treat one another with respect.
For suggestions to help you think about establishing a welcoming classroom climate, see CIDR guidelines for Honoring Student Diversity, including, Setting the stage for potentially sensitive material.
You may be concerned about how to respond if students bring these events up in class, or how to bring up the topic yourself. Think ahead about the goals for a discussion like this, students' possible responses (both spoken and unspoken), and your roles in this discussion. Think ahead also about ways that you can prepare students for this discussion.
For suggestions to help you think about leading class discussions, see CIDR guidelines for Fostering Equitable Class Participation.
You may notice signs that students are experiencing emotional distress. As an instructor, it is not necessarily your role to help students in this situation, and in fact it may be counter-productive for the students if you bring up emotionally difficult issues without providing appropriate support and assistance. For more information about ways to talk with students about these issues, contact UW CareLink at 1-866-598-3978.
For suggestions to help you think about ways of responding to distressed students, see CIDR's collection of resources on Responding to Difficult Situations with Students, especially:
