Clemson University lets citizens join in class on terrorism

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Within five miles of Bob and Ellen Rochford's home sits one of South Carolina's seven nuclear power plants considered a possible terrorist target.

Like so many in their quiet retirement community in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the Rochfords want to know more about their safety since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"It's a little apprehensive," 78-year-old Ellen Rochford said of the mood among her neighbors. Her curiosity and questions brought her to professor Jay Hetherington's class at nearby Clemson University.

Across the country, colleges have expanded classes on terrorism, Islam and fundamentalism to meet the demands of students struggling to comprehend the attacks.

Southeast Missouri State University's political science department sponsored several noontime discussions last semester related to terrorism and homeland defense. No symposiums are planned for this semester.

At Clemson, the intense interest in Hetherington's class has prompted school officials to let the public sit in for free.

With 33 years' experience in the CIA, Hetherington hopes to give his students and anyone else who shows up a new perspective on what terrorism means to the United States, along with knowledge of the Middle East, weapons of mass destruction and challenges to civil liberties.

"We all find ourselves learning and groping our way through issues that have too many facets, too many variables and too many imponderables," said Hetherington, who was deputy chief of the CIA director's arms control staff during the Reagan administration.

Finding understanding

A mixture of baseball caps and gray hair sat among the more than 200 people leafing through the first handouts.

Their first assignment draws from personal fears and questions stemming from Sept. 11, but these students will learn more than how to cope with their nation's vulnerability.

"I want to know what the future holds for me and for America," said 19-year-old Lamibia Clark, who was among 75 students enrolled in the class.

Retired Army officer Joe Rawl, 63, of Walhalla is interested in the Middle East.

"I don't understand the way they think and I'm hoping to understand some of that," he said. "It's caused us to look over our shoulder a bit more. But I don't think we can allow it to affect our lives."

Hetherington believes his class will provide more depth than political science classes offered at colleges. He plans to call on his colleagues and experts, such as FBI agents and emergency room doctors under contract with the Defense Department, as guest speakers.

"Anybody who comes to the class, seriously listens, does the recommended readings ... will go away as well informed as Washington officials who don't have direct, hands-on stuff," Hetherington says.

The first speaker in Hetherington's class, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talked about America's war on terrorism.

"This is not over by a long shot," said Graham, as the image of a target focused on the World Trade Center illuminated behind him.

"The only reason why they used airplanes is because there was nothing else to use," Graham said. "There is a ticking clock in terms of when and if they get their hands on a weapon of mass destruction."

This semester, 78-yer-old Bob Rochford can participate in a discussion about living so close to Duke Power's Oconee Nuclear Station, which was designed with several layers of steel and concrete to withstand natural disasters such as hurricanes.

"I think the facility was well designed with a lot of this in mind," Rochford said. "This shocked us into this new attitude. I think it's a wake-up call for the country."