Many professors used class time to discuss the terrorist attacks for the fist few days after Sept. 11. UW-Madison communications arts Professor Susan Zaeske never stopped.
Zaeske reworked the entire curriculum of her Communication Arts 270 class, \Great Speakers and Speeches,"" following Sept. 11 to focus on the speeches of President Bush, Osama bin Laden and other related figures. The course analyzes their speeches not only for their rhetorical value, but also for connections to speeches from other periods of national crisis.
""I felt it would be hard for even me to talk about historical social movements when the events surrounding Sept. 11 have such an immediate rhetorical impact,"" Zaeske said, who had previously planned units on speeches concerning issues such as the women's suffrage movement.
The course is designed to give students skills for understanding the concepts of public discourse, Zaeske said.
""We're trying to make sense of what happened'historically,"" she said. ""And [the students] are glad for that.""
Zaeske said she took cues from the students as to which speeches to study.
""Many of the students drew connections to Pearl Harbor, Wilson's 1917 war message and Roosevelt's war declaration,"" she said.
Students have been receptive and even thankful that the course has changed since the attacks.
""Without exception, it's been a positive response,"" Zaeske said.
Danielle Burmaster, a UW-Madison senior in the class, said she was glad that Zaeske changed the course to such a contemporary context.
""I really appreciated her including information on the attacks and war rhetoric in general,"" Burmaster said. ""It's a really intense yet good thing to do. Not many professors were willing to bend the syllabus like that.""
Zaeske said she allowed her students to debate aspects of the speeches explored in the classroom.
""The students really got fired up about Bush using Psalm 23 in his Sept. 11 speech,"" she said. ""There were definitely different points of view.""
The class so far has focused primarily on Bush's speeches.
""I think that the first speech Bush gave [on Sept. 11th] was not what the American people needed to hear. It did not succeed in calming the American people,"" Zaeske said. ""Sept. 20 I actually thought was a brilliant speech. The most important rhetorical strategy was selecting the setting for the speech'a joint session of congress. [It] gave a sense that he was being strong [by] replicating the ritual of declaring war.\
