Today's seminar, titled "The Cost of Marginalization: Place, Race, Class and Media in the Katrina Catastrophe," is the first in a series of three talks scheduled for the next three weeks.
Each of the forums, which are open to the public, will feature a faculty panel to initiate discussion.
Panelists will be given time to explain their expertise, and then will be asked several questions by the forum's moderator, said Janet Lillie, an assistant dean in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences and a coordinator of the event.
"What we really wanted to do was serve the audience's needs," she said. "It's not designed as a 'talk at.'"
Today's forum, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in room 158 of the Natural Resources Building, has a broader focus than the upcoming talks, Lillie said, and will cover topics ranging from the vulnerabilities of poor minority communities to the media portrayal of those affected by the hurricane.
"This is a teachable moment," said Deborah DeZure, director of Faculty and Organizational Development. "We hope to take advantage of that."
Organizers will be asking for feedback at each forum, in an effort to gauge interest in the possibility of additional events. There are areas of interest, such as environmental and business impacts of the disaster, that the university could be better positioned to discuss in the future, DeZure said.
"We went with what we considered to be the critical questions people had and we had information on," she said. "We don't necessarily have full answers, but we have the beginnings of ways to think about these issues."
Tom Wolff, an associate dean in the College of Engineering and an expert on levee building, said he feels a certain responsibility to share his expertise and help inform the public.
"There's public policy issues that everyone can listen to and begin to form an opinion on," he said.
Several professors and residence hall staff members encouraged students to attend, DeZure said.
"MSU has shown itself to be concerned, but we become apathetic after the media has blazoned it into our minds," international relations senior Reese Everson said. "If that's already happened, then the turnout (is) going to be low."
Staff writer Melissa Domsic contributed to this report.
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