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| Kissinger Watch #3 - 05 | |
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| Campaign and Protests at College of William and Mary I - Kissinger visits College / Flat Hat | |
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| Student Newspaper of the College of William and Mary Vol. 93, No. 15 April 5, 2002 By Mary Claire Whitaker Flat Hat Staff Writer | |
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| Chancellor of the College and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited campus Wednesday for a series of forums with students and faculty. The forums were attended by college community members who saw the event as a unique opportunity for both educational inquiry and critical questioning. Kissinger spoke to government professor Clay Clemens' two U.S. Foreign Policy classes. During another meeting, Kissinger spoke with Board of Visitors members Donald Patten and Robert Roberson and a group of presidents' aides. Another session, moderated by Dean of International Affairs Mitchell Reiss was held with selected graduates and undergraduates studying International Relations. Finally, Kissinger spoke with a group of about 70 law students. Prior to the event, Clemens informed his students that they were "free to ask anything," and he "encouraged them to ask about the past, the present and the future." Of the approximately 60 students present, only six were able to vocalize their questions during the 50-minute time period they were given with Kissinger, because of the length of the Chancellor's responses. Students asked the Chancellor to respond on current policy issues regarding Israel and China, the recently released Nixon tapes, as well as his past dealings with Chile, Cambodia and Vietnam. "At the beginning I was a little bit concerned because people didn't seem to be asking tough questions that held [Kissinger] accountable," junior Elizabeth Tregaskis said, "but then people asked him about Chile, the Nixon tapes and Cambodia, which gave him an opportunity to respond to these issues in an academic manner." Junior Tini Dinh raised a question about the secret bombings reportedly to have taken place over Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War under Kissinger's supervision. "In his career he made a lot of decisions that affected a lot of people - civilians, nations and third-world regimes ... I thought it was important to bring up a question about his career because he was so influential in policymaking during a really tumultuous time," Dinh said. "It was a really neat opportunity to ask him and to get his perspective." Junior Emily Lindenberg said that while she had gone into the discussion expecting more questions to be asked and that Kissinger's responses were "extensive for the time allotted." But, according to Lindenberg, this quantity did not sacrifice quality of response. "He was very receptive to all of the questions; he was very honest and very thorough in his responses," Lindenberg said.The Chancellor commented on the difficulty of a job such as the one he held as Secretary of State. "[Kissinger] made it very clear that policymakers have to make tough decisions," junior Brian Knight said, "But they have to be done for the good of the country." According to some of those who listened to him speak, Kissinger's remarks were very predictable to any who were familiar with previous comments he has made, and did not say much to change the way his listeners felt towards him. "[Kissinger] was just as diplomatic as he always is and just as long-winded," Tregaski said. "He gave the answers that everyone expected and left the same questions that people always had, the same differences in opinion as before." The first three sessions took place in Blow Hall, outside of which a crowd of about a dozen police officers and a dozen protesters stood at the time of the Chancellor's arrival. "[The protesters want] to let people know we're not happy because students and faculty were under-represented in the Board of Visitor's decision [to install Kissinger as Chancellor]," Julie Griffiths, '01 said, "and that we're unhappy about the choice they made." The protesters were handing out, among other information, a recent New York Times article about legal action against Kissinger and a bibliography of Kissinger criticism. According to senior Peter Maybarduk, the group was later joined by more students, as well as philosophy professor Mark Fowler and anthropology professor D.J. Hatfield. "This is a university, obviously we have room for dissent," Director of University Relations Bill Walker said. "I think that students expressed their opinions in appropriate ways." The William and Mary News was the only media group allowed into the question-and-answer sessions. According to Walker, this was because University Relations had "a prior agreement ... to really give the Chancellor a chance to meet with the students and answer questions without external influence." http://flathat.wm.edu/April052002/newsstory9.shtml | |
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