COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS : Talks Planned on Middle East

Although President Bush has declared a cease-fire in the Persian Gulf, College of the Canyons’ student government plans to proceed with a weeklong event to provide students with information about the Middle East.

Beginning Monday, speakers will be scheduled on topics such as Israel’s role in the Middle East, American troops, the environmental disaster in the Gulf, the role of war in America’s economy, Saddam Hussein, the United Nations and oil.

“The event is a time for students and faculty to put everything aside and talk about what is happening, or what did happen in the Gulf,” said Michael Daly, a student government senator who is organizing Crisis Week. “There are still questions to be answered about the future of the Middle East and what part America will play in it.”

A teach-in Monday night will kick off the week, which continues through Friday. Featured speakers will be Ralph Shoenman, author of “Iraq and Kuwait: A History Suppressed”; Carol Bidigare, coordinator for the National Organization for Women in the East San Fernando Valley; Don Demoro, a Vietnam veteran; actor David Klinen of the television series “thirtysomething,” and Father Bill Davis, a Jesuit priest.

Daly said he hopes to place pictures of local soldiers stationed in the Persian Gulf on a board near the campus bookstore. Pictures will be collected from anyone with family or friends who are involved in the war.

Jodi Grass, a student government leader who helped organize the week, said the Gulf War “will always be a significant crisis whether it’s over or not. Just because it’s over doesn’t mean that people understood everything that took place.”