Several ISU professors and one Ames teacher said they plan to commemorate the anniversary of Sept. 11 in their own classrooms by applying the events to the discipline they are teaching.

John Cunnally, associate professor of art and design, will be teaching two classes on Wednesday – one about the history of design and the second on the art of Islam.

“I think it would be a good opportunity to talk about the proposals brought up to rebuild or redesign the site of the World Trade Center in my history of design course,” he said. “We’ll also talk about the Islamic response to the West, including fundamentalism, terrorism and the rejection of Western values in my art of Islam course.”

Cunnally said the anniversary of Sept. 11 is a “wonderful opportunity” to discuss the events of last fall.

“It would be good if each instructor who had a class on Sept. 11 would use that opportunity to discuss the events and how they relate to each subject,” he said. “That would be an academically appropriate way to honor the events.”

Though Cunnally hopes students will come to class ready to discuss the events of Sept. 11, he said he would be understanding of those who are absent in order to attend university programs that day.

Mark Barloon, lecturer in history, said he will be sticking to the syllabus in his American history course.

“The closest we might get to it would be the guerrilla tactics during the American Revolution,” he said. There were many atrocities during that war that were justified at the time, Barloon said.

Richard Haws, associate professor of journalism and mass communication, said his classes will spend Sept. 11 discussing vivid images of war coverage and the importance of maintaining public support in a democracy while covering a war.

“A lesson that journalists can learn, and one that we’re trying to teach here, is the caution that professional journalists used in the Sept. 11 coverage,” he said.

“I believe journalists were very careful not to jump to conclusions as to the source of the attacks that day. They operated much better in regard to the coverage of Sept. 11 than they did to the coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing.”

Haws said journalists need to recognize current challenges like the problem the United States has in getting their viewpoint across in the Middle East.

“There is an entirely different message that the Middle Eastern media is presenting to Middle Easterners,” he said. “There’s been a breakdown in communication between our two cultures and the media has a great responsibility in attempting to solve some of those problems. I don’t know that there’s been a lot of progress made.”

Christopher Ball, lecturer in political science, said the anniversary will be mentioned at the beginning of his classes, then business will go on as usual.

“There are enough other events going on around campus. I don’t want to overload students,” he said. “I’ll probably otherwise ignore the topic.”

Ball said since Iowa is “not that close to where the events happened,” discussion isn’t necessary.

At the elementary level, students at Meeker Elementary, 300 20th St., are participating in a ceremony to commemorate Sept. 11.

Dwight Herold, a fourth-grade teacher, came up with the plans for the ceremony with his principal. Herold, last year’s National Social Studies Teacher of the Year, wanted to do something patriotic for the anniversary.

All of the students, from kindergarteners through sixth graders, will participate. The event will start outside around the flagpole with the kindergarten classes leading the Pledge of Allegiance.

The upper grades will do a presentation on the one of the six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

The ceremony is going to take precedence over the regular class schedule.

“We’re going to have whatever time it takes,” Herold said.

– Daily staff writer Dana DeJong contributed to this story.