“After September 11: A Teach-in” was scheduled to take place in the EMU Ballroom, but by the time moderator Sandra Morgen had finished her opening remarks, it had been moved to the Ballroom, the Maple Room, the Oak Room, the third floor lobby and even the stairs leading to the Emerald newsroom.
More than a thousand people turned out for the event, which was sponsored by Concerned Faculty for Peace and Justice — a group of about 70 faculty members concerned with finding alternatives to a military response to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
The teach-in opened with a series of speeches by organization members and a brief question-and-answer session that remained generally civil, despite what at times seemed to be extremely polarized views among members of the audience and the panel.
“Do you not feel that there comes a time where we have to get up and serve and represent the freedom for everyone else in this country?” a second-year Ph.D. student from Queens, N.Y., asked at one point. “I myself am a veteran.”
The panel members, whose views on military action ranged from tentative support to vehement opposition, fielded questions in a way that left those of most audience members answered, if not entirely satisfied.
“I am a soldier, I am a pacifist,” said Tammam Adi, director of the Islamic Cultural Center of Eugene, who served as the panel’s Islamic expert. In answer to the question of military force, Adi advised care and consideration.
“The military has to move, but not overreach,” he said to resounding applause.

However, not everyone present seemed to agree that discussion of alternatives to military action was needed. A speech by ASUO Multicultural Representative Mario Sifuentez was interrupted by a man shouting at the panel. The man called the panel’s arguments “treasonous” and stormed from the Ballroom, leaving a slightly bemused Sifuentez to finish his speech.
“I don’t take it personal,” Sifuentez said afterward. “He was just expressing his frustration over the issue.”
After the question-and-answer session, the audience broke into smaller groups in order to take part in one of five discussion groups led by various members of CFPJ. The discussion groups filled almost immediately, leaving CFPJ members like Linda Fuller the difficult task of turning away would-be participants at the door.
“There are easily a hundred people in here — maybe more,” she said of the “Community Responses and Peace Movements” session, which was held in the Gumwood Room. “They’re not letting anyone else in.”
Reaction to the event was generally positive. Megan Swain, a senior studying political science and English, said she got what she came for.
“I wanted to learn more about the situation,” she said. “I know more about what’s happening in Afghanistan than I did before.”
CFPJ seemed pleased with how well the teach-in was received, but viewed it as only the first step.
“I think it was a very good start,” Morgen said. “We started a dialogue and a learning process that’s going to continue for a long time. I think that there was a lot of — for the most part — respect shown for different points of view, and that’s what we wanted to see happen.”