No students, organizers, faculty or media seemed completely pleased with the outcome of the faculty-led symposium regarding the new military effort in Iraq.

On March 20, the day following President Bush's announcement, a previously scheduled symposium, organized by the College Republicans and Democrats, took place on SE Campus.

"It [the symposium] was informative, but disappointing that we didn't get to stand up and ask any questions," Amanda Torrealba, student and event co-organizer, said.

The morning of the symposium, the SE Campus administration decided not to allow students to ask questions as a single group. Following each of the faculty members' speeches, a short break was granted, and only a fraction of the student audience returned to ask questions of individual faculty members in the designated smaller groups.

Dean Rusty Fox, following the symposium, explained the school's position.

"We never looked at canceling the event ... But we did consider postponing it because the emotions were so intense, it being the same day that war started," he said.

Instead of postponement, the school decided to break the students up into smaller groups for the feedback session, Fox said.

This decision caused confusion for some students.

For instance, when John Perkins, assistant professor of history, spoke, he mentioned the likelihood that Saddam Hussein would use weapons of mass destruction during the war, in particular chemical and biological, which immediately aroused fears.

Yet when the students broke into smaller groups, Perkins was questioned about his earlier statement.

Perkins then clarified his statement by explaining that Hussein does not have the technological ability to strike the United States directly and can strike only his direct neighbors.

The statement reassured several students within the smaller group.

But because not everyone initially present was privy to the follow-up question and answer, some students may have left with a gross misunderstanding, Therese Kerfoot, the primary organizer of the symposium and SE Campus College Republican president, said.

Following the event, tempers surfaced in the form of criticism directed at the organizers, Kerfoot said.

"Teachers were coming to us and saying they were frustrated; administrators were saying they were frustrated, and the media were coming to us saying they were frustrated," Rachael McDonald, SE Cornerstone student, said.

Some teachers expressed frustration because the panel did not include representatives from the liberal arts, such as English, literature or sociology.

The panel consisted of faculty members from the social sciences: Perkins; Dr. Hamed Madani, professor of political science; Eloy Gomez, associate professor of economics; Dr. Ehi Agboaye, associate professor of political science; and Chuck Hope, assistant professor of history.

Jerry Coats, assistant professor of English, and several other faculty members were disappointed with the lack of academic diversity, as well as the absence of women on the panel.

"Not having women up there (on the panel) was just overlooked and not intentional," McDonald said.

Kerfoot apologetically expressed dismay with the extent of the reactions.

"Originally, I wanted to have a professor established in each field and the discussion to be informative for the student body," she said.

"I wanted students to be able to ask something they were wondering about and get an educated response," she said.

Because of the constraints, emotions and planning problems, the intellectual expectations of everyone were not met as they wished, McDonald said.

Local television news organizations were on hand.

A few media representatives were upset because students were not allowed to ask questions directly and as a group.

The media people had planned to get views from students about the war in Iraq, and, therefore, in their opinion, they lost their story, Kerfoot said.