By Emily Baldauf
Staff Writer

In recent headlines, there have a been a number of instances of violence in the least expected places, such as in the classroom and in the workplace.

Many people may read those violent headlines and ask questions like "how could this happen?" "what were they thinking?" and most often "why?"

A new course being offered next fall, Interdisciplinary Studies 490B, "Hate and Violence," will examine these questions and other topics surrounding hate and violence. Robert Mate, the assistant dean of students, hopes that by teaching this class, some solutions can be found.

"We all talk about it, but not too many of us do anything because we feel helpless," said Mate. "However, I feel there are many things we can do to make progress toward solutions."

Mate plans to cover many topics within hatred and prejudice like social and physiological theory, effects on society, stereotypes, racism, hate groups and homosexual prejudice.

"I think students, like all of us today, are concerned about violent outbursts we’ve seen throughout the country in the last year or so," said Joan Marshall, the associate dean of the School of Liberal Arts. "However, as we try to prepare an effective response to violence, better yet, prevent it before it occurs, we need to fully understand its causes and its relationship to other factors operating within our society."

Mate hopes that by discussing the issues in a small group setting, students will come up not only answers, but also solutions. The three—credit course will be similar to a seminar, and classes will include discussions, guest speakers and group work.

The course was designed for undergraduate students from all schools and majors. "Hate and violence affects people in all majors," said Mate. "These types of issues affect us all and everyone would be invited (to this class)."

"I think an academic course on hate and violence based on theory and research provides an excellent background for students to tackle these issues as informed and concerned citizens," said Marshall.

Mate hopes that the background knowledge and experience students get during this course will become a part of their lives after the semester class ends.

"I hope we all get a better understanding of how connected we are to each other," said Mate. "If we look at each other and see part of ourselves it would be much harder to see our differences and hurt one another."