Office of News ServicesUniversity at Buffalo716-645-2626fax 716-645-3765
Professors from the University at Buffalo are available to discuss the terrorist attack of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on subjects ranging from intelligence-gathering and the impact on rescue workers to the terrorists' religious beliefs, President Bush's leadership style and the impact on civil rights.
Political Scientist Says Improved Intelligence-Gathering Needed for America's Response to Terrorists
A major emphasis on improving intelligence-gathering -- including having the FBI and CIA work in tandem -- must be a key piece of the U.S. retaliation against terrorists for last week's attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, according to a University at Buffalo professor who is a former editor of the journal Armed Forces & Society.
"If President Bush looks only to the military, which seems to be both his initial inclination, and what the American public wants him to do, he will get incomplete and misleading information about what's important," said Claude E. Welch, Jr., Ph.D., SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the UB Department of Political Science.
To read the full article, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=53600009.
Reporters can reach Welch at his office at 716-645-2251, ext. 417, at his home at 716-839-3204 or by calling the UB Office of News Services at 716-645-2626.
Former Social Work Director at Oklahoma City Hospital Says Rescue Workers Are Among Disasters' "Victims"
While the nation stared aghast at television screens and listened in horror to radio reports of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a University at Buffalo professor listened to events unfold with a gut-wrenching familiarity.
Deborah Waldrop, Ph.D., UB assistant professor of social work, was social work director at Oklahoma City's St. Anthony Hospital on April 19, 1995, when a truck bomb exploded in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Located roughly five blocks from the disaster, St. Anthony was on the front line of rescue efforts.
She learned first-hand the impact such a tragedy has on rescue workers responding to the crisis.
While a great deal of attention is paid to the victims of calamitous tragedies and their families, the rescue workers -- firefighters, police, ambulance crews, emergency personnel, hospital staff and others -- also are victims. Witnesses to nearly unimaginable horrors, those involved in the rescue efforts often need help to deal with what they have seen and experienced, Waldrop said.
To read the full article, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=53590009.
Reporters may contact Waldrop in her office at 716-645-3381 ext. 270, or through the UB Office of News Services, 716-645-2626.
Americans "Naive" When it Comes to Understanding Religious Beliefs that Drive Terrorists
Americans' "general naivete" regarding the beliefs and assumptions of religions other than their own is hampering their ability to understand discussions about those suspected of being responsible for last week's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, according to Phillips Stevens, Jr.
Stevens, associate professor of anthropology at the University at Buffalo and nationally-recognized expert in the anthropology of religion, says the lack of knowledge is particularly acute when it comes to fundamentalist religious groups of the Middle East.
"This seriously hampers our ability to understand or discuss those suspected of being responsible for last week's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon," he adds.
To read the full article, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=53580009.
Reporters may contact Stevens at 716-645-2302 (office) or 716-839-3357 (home).
UB Professor, Constitutional Law Expert Predicts Threat to Privacy, Civil Rights of Some Americans
Just as they did during the era of McCarthyism and the post-Pearl Harbor period, Americans can probably expect to see calls for measures that may seriously erode the constitutional rights of American citizens, said Lee Albert, professor of law at the University at Buffalo and a specialist in constitutional issues.
"There is no question that a society under attack will place more resources into security than privacy," he said.Albert added that most of the measures being proposed for stricter airport security will be welcomed and generally do not pose a threat to privacy interests.
However, he said, some of the most promising methods of thwarting attacks from terrorists -- infiltration of groups and organizations in search of information -- potentially poses a significant threat to privacy interests and constitutional rights of U.S. citizens.
To read the full article, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=53530009.
Albert may be reached at 716-645-2869 or by calling UB News Services at 716-645-2626
Bush Hitting Right Notes as a Leader, But Potential Missteps Lie Ahead, Says UB Expert on Leadership Styles
George W. Bush took a solid first step in improving his image as this country's leader when he stepped to the microphone to comment on terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, according to a University at Buffalo professor with expertise in leadership, charisma and management styles.
James R. Meindl says President Bush's carefully crafted comments to the American people have given the president's leadership persona a boost.
"A person's ability to appear decisive and in control in a crisis situation is a major component of what makes him or her appear to be charismatic, or a good leader," Meindl says.
Meindl says Bush has done an excellent job in his speeches and news conferences of balancing the appearance of empathy and strength, two qualities that are essential to effective leadership. But he cautions that the coming days will present numerous opportunities for Bush to stumble as a leader in the eyes of the American people.
To read the full article, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=53510009.
Meindl can be reached in his office at 716-645-3244 or home at 716-881-6520.
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