Saturday marked the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks that transformed security policies in America, and many universities nationwide have begun to reassess what role security should play on campuses today.
Dean of International Studies Gilles Bousquet and a panel of professors met Monday at the Memorial Union to speak to students and the general public about this new responsibility: To redefine security and heighten awareness of the American university's role in a broad global community.
\UW is a global actor on the world scene,"" Bousquet said, ""which means the scale of our thinking must be different. Heightened awareness should be the lesson of the past three years.""
However, many of the panel members felt the levels of public discourse and awareness have been lacking.
""We haven't done much to change our institutions. We've become comfortable and gone back to our old ways,"" said history professor Jeremi Suri, one of the organizers of the event.
Suri explained how the assumptions previously held about university security have been challenged by the events of Sept. 11.
""High technology and civilian expertise can bring more vulnerabilities than solutions. We have to think about these issues of knowledge exportation. This is a criticism of all universities, but no university has as vast and broad a field of expertise as UW-Madison,"" Suri said.
Brenda Gayle Plummer, a member of the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, agrees knowledge dissemination on campus is at the heart of security issues, and while it may be considered a ""vulnerability,"" it is also a necessity.
""The university's chief goal is the spread of knowledge. ... The flow of information is critical to protecting and expanding democracy,"" Plummer said.
Political science department professor Orfeo Fioretos, who spent the past summer in Europe, emphasized the recent shift in approval in the international community toward the United States. He considers the university an excellent place to reestablish relations and trust abroad.
""The university should rededicate itself to being a member of public debate,"" Fioretos said.
Monday's panel discussion was the first in an ongoing discourse about campus security and international relations. A future panel made up of UW-Madison economists and scientists will discuss the impact of the global economy on the university structure.
