The School of Social Work wants to give students a place to express their feelings on the attack on America.
Social workers will be in front of West Hall at 10 a.m. encouraging students to voice any misconceptions they might have about Tuesday’s tragedy on the East Coast.
The event will include sessions where students can express their thoughts with social workers as well as have the opportunity to write messages with chalk on the sidewalk.
A sheet will be mailed to New York with participants’ handprints and personal messages to the victims and rescuers.
Associate professor in the School of Social Work Maria Napoli decided to do something after seeing reactions from students in her classes. After a moment of silence, she allowed students to talk about what they were feeling.
“Most of them were numb and you could see it,” she said. “We spent the entire class talking about it and felt so powerless.”
It was then that she knew people needed to vent.
“A lot of students had business as usual. They really hadn’t had time to process what happened,” she said.
Counseling and Consultation Services will be on campus for the rest of the week, but Napoli said today’s event is meant to talk about broader political issues.
A representative from the Islamic Cultural Center will also be available to talk to those students who may have an animosity toward Muslims.
Margi Waller, an associate professor in the School of Social Work, invited the representative to attend after a student in her class blamed the attacks on the Islamic religion and its beliefs.
“Basically, she had a misconception that terrorism is condoned by the Islamic faith. That is just not true,” Waller said.
Reach Lauren Carney at lauren_carney@hotmail.com.
