Common courses debut with questions of war

World War II saw the entrance of tens of thousands of American women into the work force. Aiding the war effort, in those days, meant filling the jobs of men who had signed on to fight overseas. By Vietnam, many Americans were more concerned with protesting the war than with supporting it. Students marched in demonstrations, seized university administrators’ offices and sang “Give Peace a Chance” — their response to a perplexing and, in many ways, morally confusing era.

By contrast, our contribution to the war effort today is astoundingly mundane. If we want to boost the economy and fight the War on Terrorism from home, we’ve been told, we ought to shop. The war the United States has waged for the past year has probably not touched many Americans’ daily lives in significant ways.

But for more than 300 students in “21st Century Choices: War, Justice, Human Rights,” grappling with issues related to U.S. involvement overseas has been a regular occurrence. This new three-credit course was funded by private donor John Griffin (Commerce ’85) and co-taught by two of the College’s most sought-after faculty members: Jim Childress, the John Allen Hollingsworth Professor of Ethics, professor of medical education and director of the Institute for Practical Ethics; and Michael Smith, professor of politics, director of the Program in Political and Social Thought and chair of the Faculty Senate.

The 200-level course, for which students may receive credit in history, politics or religious studies, is the first in a series of “common courses” envisioned by Dean Edward L. Ayers to engage students in rigorous reflection on themes beyond the scope of any single discipline.

“As I’ve talked with faculty, students and alumni, one group after another expressed the same longing: for connection,” Ayers said. “People are craving the chance to step over the boundaries between disciplines to see big issues from multiple angles of vision.

“When John Griffin expressed an interest in helping the College, I knew what we needed — resources that would free our best faculty to teach exciting new courses for a broad range of students. Mr. Griffin agreed, and as a result we are able to present wonderful additions to our course offerings in these hard times.”

Smith believes an ethics course perfectly lends itself to an interdisciplinary approach. “Ethics is an inherently interdisciplinary mode of inquiry,” he said. “First one has to know how it is we make ethical judgments, and that in itself is a discipline.” But to apply ethics to the realities of public life, one needs to understand other disciplines as well — business, the environment, politics or, in this case, war.

Weekly lectures have addressed a variety of interrelated topics: just war theory, war crimes, human rights after 9/11, nuclear deterrence and religious justifications for violence, to name a few.

The course is truly interdisciplinary. “We draw from history, politics, ethics, religious studies and literature to address important past, present and future societal choices,” Childress said. “Through this course, we hope to provide some of the tools that students can use as citizens in making their own judgments about policies.”

Even with enrollment approaching 325, Childress and Smith had to turn away a number of students who wanted to take the course — proof that, while this generation of students is often described as self-absorbed and oblivious to current social problems, that characterization is not entirely accurate.

“The focus of activism has changed, but still a large number of students are involved in some sort of program,” Childress said. “It’s a quieter activism. A lot of it is international. Students are quite thoughtful about the way they try to intervene in the world.”

The students, for their part, are relishing their engagement with issues that range from age-old philosophical problems to yesterday’s evening news. According to second-year Maria Falcao (College ’05), “This class is very theoretical, and at the same time, it touches day-to-day events. Because we’re in Charlottesville, we feel as if we have nothing to do with the events overseas. But this class shortens the distance between us and the war.”

“It really helps to bring current events home,” said Cate Oliver (Religious Studies ’03), “especially when the professors constantly remind us of the choices involved in war, who the players are, and the factors that contribute to the choices being made.”

“21st Century Choices” is just the first in a series of common courses. In spring ’03 Childress is teaching “Environmental Choices in the 21st Century” with Thomas Smith, associate professor of environmental sciences, and Mark White, associate professor of commerce.