College Group Presents Student Awareness Week 2009: Focus on Gaza

Dr. Chris Ciocchetti

SHREVEPORT, La. — The annual Centenary Student Awareness Week takes place now through Saturday, March 28. Hosted by the Centenary College Democrats, the event will be co-sponsored by the Centenary Activities Board and Residence Hall Association and is free and open to the public.

This year the event's theme is "Focus on Gaza" as an attempt to educate the campus community about the ongoing humanitarian crisis, which has been exacerbated by continuously severe restrictions on what aid can enter the region. A professor panel discussing the issue will be takes place on Thursday, March 26th at 6:30 pm in the Student Union Building. Panel members include Dr. Chris Ciocchetti, Associate Professor of Philosophy, who will speak about the ethics of the situation; Dr. Gloria Walker, Assistant Professor of Political Science, who will discuss human rights; and Dr. David Stafford, Interim Chair of the Psychology Department, on the psychology of warfare.

Dr. Gloria Walker

Informational displays will be erected around campus for the duration of the week.

"Centenary Student Awareness Week provides a service to our community as it highlights events that are happening in the global arena that we may not necessarily be exposed to on a day-to-day basis, but are still important to international relations and human rights," said Political Science major Linda Bird. "The professor panel offers different perspectives from different areas of academic study, so it's informative and knowledge-driven, not politically-driven.

Dr. David Stafford

"Music and political science major Clay Mills added, "As students who are close to entering the real world, the professional world, we cannot sit blindly and just let these things happen. We need to educate ourselves, learn about the situation and what we can do. We can't waste our lives away - we were put on this earth to do something. It's like they say: when you go somewhere, you want to leave it better than you found it - so, we need to leave this Earth better than the way it was when we were born in order to make the world a better place!"

For more information, please contact Nadine Kaskas at 318.573.0812 or e-mail email.