Lunchtime Panel to Examine Syrian Crisis

09/13/2013 

SUNY Cortland will examine the war-torn state of Syria with a lunchtime panel discussion Wednesday, Sept. 18, featuring three faculty members from departments across campus.

The civil war in Syria has lasted more than two years, displacing millions and killing more than 100,000, including 1,400 men, women and children who succumbed to a sarin gas attack in August. The war, and possible U.S. involvement in the conflict, continues to generate international debate.

“Conflict in Syria: How Should the United States Respond?” will take place at 12:30 p.m. in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. The Sandwich Seminar is free and open to the public.

The panel will consider the Syrian conflict by examining factors that include the role of the Arab Spring, the consequences of military involvement, potential spillover effects in the Middle East and non-violent resolution options.

Contributors to the panel will include:

• Alexandru Balas, an assistant professor of international studies, who recently joined the College as the director of the Clark Center for International Education. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, specializing in international relations and comparative politics.

• Andrew Fitz-Gibbon, an associate professor and chair of philosophy. He serves as director of SUNY Cortland’s Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice and the president of the international Concerned Philosophers for Peace.

• Larbi Touaf, a visiting Fulbright Scholar from Morocco studying SUNY Cortland’s Institute for Civic Engagement (ICE) during the fall semester. An associate professor at Mohammed I University in Oujda, Morocco, he studied as a visiting Civic Education and Leadership Fellow at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 2011.

Richard Kendrick, the director of the ICE and a professor of sociology/anthropology at SUNY Cortland, will moderate the discussion.

The panel is jointly presented by the ICE, the Clark Center for International Education and the Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice.

Those interested in the discussion can join it on Twitter by following @CortlandICE or using #getinvolvedcortland. For more information, contact Matthew Whitman, the AmeriCorps outreach coordinator for ICE.