LAST FRIDAY I attended a forum at the Miller Center of Public Affairs in which Washington Post contributor Michael Dobbs, a specialist in Russian and Eastern European affairs, discussed his research and his book on the Cuban Missile Crisis. This was my first trip to the Miller Center (located off of Ivy Road), despite having been aware of it for quite some time. I believe this is common among the student body. Involved as most of us are in a wide variety of extracurricular activities, it is difficult to pencil out time to make a trek over to North Grounds to attend an optional lecture. However, in a year that saw an extraordinary election and a severe credit crunch, foreign and domestic issues came to the forefront. By presenting lectures and forums by experts on a wide variety of pertinent topics, the Miller Center repays the students’ allotment of time with the ability to be well-informed on the essential topics of the day.
The relative lack of student attendance at the Miller Center was reflected in the audience of the event I attended. Perhaps it was because the topic — the Cuban Missile Crisis — did not interest students. Perhaps it is because the forum occurred at 11:00 on a Friday morning — prime sleeping-in time. No matter what the reasons, the vast majority of those sitting in the room were older members of the community; I estimate that student attendance did not exceed single digits.
But this ought not be the case. Clearly the students at our University are politically engaged; witness the fervor surrounding the election, the many who volunteered their time and energy for various political campaigns, and who made time helping at polls, driving to and from voting areas and vocally supporting their candidates. Certainly political awareness was unusually high this year. But just because the election has ended does not mean the need to be informed has ceased. The world’s important events and issues will not dissolve into thin air for the next four years simply because Barack Obama has been elected president. The Miller Center offers a chance to delve more deeply into the American political sphere on an academic level.
Through its forums, lectures and roundtables, the Miller Center gives students an opportunity to engage experts in various fields of politics, from foreign affairs to environmental policy, on a current and historical perspective. Upcoming lectures offer exposure to experts on topics as diverse as Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, which will in all likelihood continue to stick like a thorn in the side of American diplomacy. Another presents a look at past elections, those of 1816 and 1820, allowing students to develop a greater historical appreciation for our electoral system. A recent forum featured award-winning economic columnist Robert Samuelson discussing the state and future of American wealth in a time of economic crisis.
The cliché states that the cost of liberty is eternal vigilance. One critical aspect of that vigilance is being informed about the issues facing our nation that we might better hold our government accountable. The Miller Center provides a valuable tool for gaining insight into the American political system as well comprehending the wider world around us.
According to George Gilliam, Chair of the Miller Center Forum and Assistant Director for Public Affairs, initially the Miller Center did not seek to reach out to students, but has since made strides to make itself more accessible to them. Despite maintaining the 11 a.m. start time in order to cater to speakers and community members, the center has extended opportunities to students to engage its guests.
According to Gilliam, the center has invited students to lunch with speakers when there is space. Additionally, it has begun to bring some speakers to Grounds at the Harrison-Small Special Collections Library for question and answer sessions with students, with soda and pizza provided. Perhaps more usefully, the Miller Center is very technically integrated, and places many of its lectures and forums online in audio and video format. This allows students to enjoy access to experts on their own time (I am currently listening to one as I write this).
This does not mean that the center cannot do more. It can better engage the politics and history faculty; Gilliam stated that they often request that professors announce Miller Center forums, but this has met with mixed results. The best way the center can draw students is simply to advertise more, to bombard students with information on its programs and the means available for getting to them. Heightening awareness of the center’s activities ought to draw more interested students to its programs.
The fact that we have no elections for two more years does not give us an excuse to slide back into ignorance regarding political and international issues. Citizens have a duty to remain informed even in the lull between political flashpoints, and the Miller Center provides valuable resources to aid students in carrying out this duty.
Robby Colby’s column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at r.colby@cavalierdaily.com.
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