Before Victor Asal was an assistant professor of political science at Rockefeller College in New York, he was a trainer for Army officers and a negotiations trainer, where he encountered many situations of ethnic terrorism and learned strategies for crisis management.
“I would say that my work looks at those factors that push organizations to using violence and specifically to those factors that make it more likely than an organization will target civilians for violence,” explains Asal.
On Wednesday, April 15 at 7 p.m., he is bringing his knowledge to the table at FAU, where he will be presenting a lecture on terrorism. Titled “Killing Civilians: The Organizational Choice of Terrorism,” the talk will address issues surrounding ethnic clashes in our modern world. The lecture will take place in the Live Oak Pavilion on the Boca campus.
According to event organizer Mehmet Gurses, this event is open and free to students, faculty, and the public.
“We are expecting about 200 guests,” says Gurses, who is also an assistant political science professor. “Our students are encouraged to attend. Dr. Asal is one of the leading scholars in the study of terrorism, and our goal in bringing him here is to inform our students and the public about the subject.”
English professor Margaret Kalman Feeley feels that lectures like these are important for students to attend.
“Academics is all about sharing ideas. That’s why visiting faculty from other universities lecture— to circulate different ideas,” she says. “I think attendance by FAU Freshman Writing program students who, by virtue of their readings and discussions of contemporary authors on critical subjects, have generated ideas about torture and terrorism is a great example of how ideas truly flourish within the academic enterprise.”
Whether you are an English professor looking for topics to expand the traditional lecture, or a political science student looking to have some questions answered, this lecture may interest you.
In summing up the gist of Asal’s upcoming lecture, Gurses takes a quote from Godfather III: “Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.”
