http://www.dailyorange.com/news/420130.html
Military photo program canceled
By Chris Maguire, Thursday, April 17, 2003

The Daily Orange, Syracuse University

The Military Visual Journalism Program, sponsored by the Department of Defense and conducted in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications has come to an end after a 40-year relationship with Syracuse University.

After wrapping up at the end of this semester, the program will not return to SU, or anywhere else, for Fall 2003. Dow Smith, a professor in Newhouse and director of the Military Visual Journalism Program at SU, believes the Department of Defense may be searching for new avenues in which to continue the program.

ìThe contract is now administered by the Defense Information School, where all the training for military journalism is done,î said Smith. ìI think maybe at this point they are thinking about bringing the program under their roof or going a totally different way, not having it be a full academic program. I'm not sure they fully know what they want to do."

In its current form, the military personnel enlisted in the program take the same core classes that an average Newhouse student would take; for example, communications law, media and society and critical perspectives, Smith said.

The decision by the Department of Defense to not issue a request for proposals, allowing universities to bid for the Visual Military Journalism Program, comes with potentially severe fiscal consequences for Newhouse.

"I think largely we are a victim of the war in Iraq,î said Newhouse Dean David Rubin. ìThe profits from that program, such as they are, do support a wide variety of activities in the school, and we are trying to figure out right now how to deal with that."

The program brings between $500,000 to $700,000 a year to use toward the program and other areas within Newhouse, Rubin said.

The program began in 1963 to teach enlisted men, and later women, how to become better writers, shooters, storytellers and to document the action in the field. In 1992, a broadcast journalism program, also funded by the Department of Defens e, was implemented in Newhouse.

The Visual Military Journalism Program has come under scrutiny recently from student organizations, such as the Student Environmental Action Coalition and Student Peace Action Network. In February, SPAN issued an e-mail noting that Newhouse and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, host of the National Security Studies program, were " involved in military war gaming on campus in preparation of bombing the Iraqi people."

Much of the criticism of the Military Visual Photo Journalism Program stems from the belief that the public communication schools and the government work hand in hand to shape the way the American public sees the news.

"That doesn't bode well for the future of Fox News," said SEAC member Jake Eichten, an undecided freshman in The College of Arts and Sciences.
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 http://www.dailyorange.com/news/418868.html

SEAC students spend week camping out on the Quad to protest war, military programs on campus

By Amy McKeever, The Daily Orange
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Wednesday, April 16, 2003

The days of warmth so far this week have brought many Syracuse students out to the Quad to bask in the sun ó something that the weather hasnít permitted in months. And, although the Quad was about as crowded as the Jersey Shore in June on Tuesday afternoon, one group of students stood out above the rest.

Tents, chairs, blankets and a huge sandwich board listing the human death toll of the war in Iraq mark the spot on the Quad that the Student Environmental Action Coalition has taken over for protest purposes. Sunday night, SEAC launched a week-long protest against the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs National Security Studies program. Approximately 30 members, on rotating shifts, are a part of this effort.

ìItís not so much a protest as an encampment to take back the school,î said Lauren Shields, a sophomore history and political science major. ìWe donít feel that the presence of the NSS program here on campus is appropriate.î

Though many passers-by assume that SEAC is out on the Quad to protest the war in Iraq in general, the group is actually trying to send a message to the Maxwell School and the Department of Defense that the National Security Studies program does not have a place at Syracuse University.

Since 1996, Maxwell, Johns Hopkins Universityís Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and the Department of Defense have had a contract to conduct the NSS program. Within the program, 800 senior military officers and civilian executives from different professional areas, including the media and congressional staff, have been able to participate in a variety of courses intended to foster leadership and development.

Since March 10, Maxwell has been hosting the National Security Management Course, which uses lectures, case studies, simulations and group briefings to improve management in the Department of Defense.

SEAC members oppose the NSS program, particularly in the context of the war.

ìThe Department of Defense is carrying out a policy right now that is really dangerous,î said Nick Cavanaugh, an undecided major in The College of Arts and Sciences. ìAs long as things like this [military action in Iraq] keep happening, I donít want them here training. Something has got to change before we can have them here.î

Prior to their encampment on the quad, SEAC pursued a diplomatic track in which a delegation of students, including Cavanaugh, held a conference with NSS Deputy Director Colonel Bill Smullen. Smullen is Maxwellís senior fellow in National Security and a public relations professor for the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The delegation, however, did not achieve its intended ends, which was the cancellation of the program.

So, during the last week of the management course, which ends April 18, SEAC took to the Quad to continue its efforts.

ìWeíre not here to ask them to stop. Weíre here to fight,î said senior history major Sam Alcoff.

During their time on the quad, SEAC members have been handing out pamphlets to students in the area and providing a forum for conversation, whether argumentative or agreeable. Though many students walk by the camp with hardly a glance in its direction, other students have been stopping at the site to discuss politics or learn more about SEACís position on the NSS program and the war in Iraq.

ìThere are basically two kinds of people who have been stopping by: those who like to argue and those who donít feel theyíre getting the full story from the mainstream press,î Alcoff said.

Some of the more argumentative students have accused SEAC of not supporting the troops, to which Alcoff responds, ìHey, we support our troops, too; we support bringing them home.î

And when theyíre not conversing with students, faculty and alumni who pass by their camp on the quad, SEAC members have been amusing themselves with games like charades, Red Rover and cards, as well as continuing to attend class, as the encampment is func tioning on shift work. The balmy climate so far this week has made the stay on the Quad a little bit easier for SEAC members. They insist the weather was an added bonus, noting that they were protesting in far less inviting climates just weeks prior.

ìThe critics werenít out here when we were making a human peace sign in the snow,î Shields said.

Despite SEACís efforts to distribute pamphlets illustrating its case, it has not been able to reach all students.

ìI think itís good that theyíre bringing attention to this, but I donít know what they can actually do,î said sophomore retail management major Hilary Shecter, while resting in a spot not far from the SEAC camp. ìItís good that itís nice though. If it were raining and snowing, it wouldnít work so well.î