After serving three years as a military mechanic, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks hit Tom Horrom’s heart.
Last October, the telecommunication sophomore enrolled in a new course, “9/11: The Causes, Consequences and Implications of the September 11 Events in their International Dimensions.”
Within two days, about 50 students filled the three-credit class to capacity.
“What happened on Sept. 11 moved me so much,” Horrom said. “I felt that I didn’t have a real grasp of the Muslim community and the ideals that they stood for.”
The course is taught Tuesdays by history professors Alan Fisher, David Robinson and graduate assistant Cheikh Babou.
“We will try to understand what has been happening over the past 100 years out of which these events came,” Fisher said. “We are not going to focus on the United States, but trying to understand the Middle East.
“We started to think of some positive things to do about September. We both decided it was important to do something for ourselves.”
Fisher, who has lived in Turkey, said he is learning from the course.
“I am familiar with Middle Eastern history, but not recent history,” he said. “We have students from every kind of major, which offers lots of different perspectives.”
Fisher will teach the course next spring semester, but plans to retire in June 2003. He said he is not sure if the course will continue after he leaves.
The course has required readings from novels and online sources. Students are responsible for weekly written assignments and one research paper in an area that interests them. The course also brings in speakers from campus to each class meeting.
Assistant Provost Barbara Steidle said MSU’s academics have not yet seen the full impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Steidle said she expects the most distinct changes in MSU’s academic programs to be noticed in a few years.
At least two other classes this semester focused on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in their curriculum.
“I think that actually what you get is a much more subtle change over time,” Steidle said. “The impact is much more than the addition of classes, it’s a flow of interest into areas that represent these kinds of issues.”
Kathryn Donaldson, an interdisciplinary humanities senior, switched from another history course as soon as her adviser told her about the class.
“I knew it would have a lot to do with both history and religion, which is where my major interests are,” she said. “The workload is definitely up there, but I’m so interested in the material I don’t think of it as being hard.”
Nicole Ramp, an interdisciplinary humanities junior, said she enrolled in the course because she wanted to explore the reasons for movements against the Westernized world.
“Although violence is inexcusable and terrible, I figured that America must be doing something to provoke certain groups,” she said. “The course offers different perspectives every week, both in class and in the readings. This gives us a more holistic look at southeast Asian history, politics and religions.”
