A panel discussion on Hurricane Katrina turned into a heated political debate last Wednesday night in Kemper Auditorium. During the question-and-answer section of the forum, Mercy Bell ’08 commented that the panel was failing to relate well to the Hurricane Katrina victims. This statement brought thunderous applause from the audience and more argumentative discussion from the panel. A student panel of Mgbechi Erondu ’06 representing AfLatAm, Becky Agostino ’07 of PA’s Center for Global Justice, President of the Andover Democrats Kevin McCarthy ’06, President of AfLatAm Todd Kwao-Vovo ’06, Hurricane Katrina refugee Forrest White ‘06, President of Andover Republicans Conor Sutherland ’06, and Prateek Kumar ’07 of the Andover Republicans led the discussion. The moderating panel included Instructors in History and Social Sciences Tony Rotundo and Carroll Perry, as well as students Fahad Missmar ’06, Dan Bacon ’06, and Charlie Frentz ’06 representing Point/Counterpoint. Students from the Movement City Youth Center in Lawrence were special guests at the forum. The panel discussed the government’s efforts to provide food to the hurricane victims and compared these efforts with those taken in the wake of last year’s tsunami in Southeast Asia. Topics of conversation also included the media’s representation of “looters” and Kanye West’s widely publicized statement in response to the Hurricane Katrina crisis that “President Bush doesn’t care about black people.” Representatives of the Andover Democrats and Andover Republicans took opposing sides on most of the issues discussed. The dialogue between the two groups became animated, and some in the audience felt that this partisan debate led to insensitivity about the hurricane victims. Paz Mendes Hodes ’07 said, “I was trying to express a non-partisan viewpoint. I was disappointed in the trajectory of the conversation. What should have been an examination of the issues that confront the nation as a whole [became] a petty catfight.” Others, such as Andover High School student and member of the Movement City Youth Center Brian Grimotes, thought that the panel was successful in achieving its goal of enlightening students about the disaster. When asked his opinion on the political argument, he said, “I felt that it wasn’t a bad thing [and was in fact] needed.” President of the Republican club Conor Sutherland ’06 said, “The diversity of ideas brought to the table by all panelists ensured both an articulate and well-informed discourse.” The forum ended with a presentation by Assistant Director of Community Service Susanna Flug about Phillips Academy’s relief efforts such as fundraising and disaster relief training with the Red Cross.
