Is There Such a Thing as a Just War? Creating Campus Conversations

Starting from his unusual perspective of first failing to win the grant and then being successful in a second attempt, Bellitto’s emphases will be, first, on the experience of applying twice; second, on the irony of then being a judge for the competition; third, on the project content; and fourth (and most especially) on how his project established ties and co-sponsorships with many campus entities. Over the two years, he engaged and worked with Political Science, Psychology, English and Theatre professors. He created public programming on the theme of war and peace with the History and Theatre departments plus the Human Rights Institute, the Faculty Seminar on Comparative Culture, Jewish Studies, the Holocaust Resource Center, and the MA in Holocaust and Genocide Studies programs. The NEH grant was supplemented by other sources of funding from his own university’s foundation and the NJ Council for the Humanities, but in total a great deal was accomplished with a relatively small sum of money. The NEH particularly praised the project for its institutional and community impact.