A dozen students munch pizza in a College of Law lecture room, waiting for the debate to begin.

“Do we need to sit on the respective sides of the aisle?” an entering student asks jokingly.

“There are no respective sides,” the moderator fires back.

“If there were, there’d be nothing on my side except for pizza boxes,” says Scott Taylor, a second-year M.P.A./M.A. (I.R.) student taking the affirmative side in the debate.

Today’s topic is “Are we winning the global war on terrorism?” The debate is sponsored by the Student Association on Terrorism and Security Analysis (SATSA). The organization, in its second year, brings together students from across campus with career interests related to security studies, defense, diplomacy, and conflict resolution.

While waiting, some of the students deliberate why it is that political leaders visiting military installations always don a flight suit. George W. looked good. His father was okay. But they agree neither Bush could touch Margaret Thatcher, who was a “badass” in her flight jacket and skirt.

These students are well-versed. Taylor is a major in the U.S. Army who has been deployed twice to Afghanistan. Arguing the counterpoint was Matthew McNabb, an undergraduate in international relations and philosophy who has published reviews and opinion pieces in the Journal of Terrorism and Security, The European Lawyer, and Legal Affairs.

“We are winning, in my sense, because the United States is safer now than before September 11,” Taylor leads off. McNabb counters that, despite what our President says, “We are not fighting a war against terror or terrorism, we are fighting a war against Al Qaeda.”

Like the presenters, the students in attendance have divergent opinions and are comfortable sparring with each other. That’s not surprising, since the group’s origins stem from the international-policy debates of its three founders.

“We had class together and used to meet for coffee or dinner to continue the discussion,” says Roxana Botea, a third-year political science Ph.D. student. Self-described as a staunch conservative, an animal-rights activist, and a progressive pragmatist, the three students—respectively, Botea, Anthony Nocella II, and Jason Pogacnik ’05—continued those arguments via e-mail and Instant Messenger throughout the summer of 2004 and, that fall, decided to formalize their conversations. The result is the first college-student organization focused on security studies and terrorism, with more than 100 student members, plus professionals from the local emergency-response community.

Event-driven, SATSA sponsors several speakers, briefings, or panel discussions each month. In February, the group attracted 70-some attendees to its second annual conference, this year on the theme of “Security, Disasters, and Political Violence,” which included four papers presented by students from outside universities: USC, University of Denver, Princeton, and Yale.

The organization’s vigor reflects the prominence of security issues in world politics, and their increased emphasis at SU, which now has the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism and a graduate certificate in security studies.

“Ultimately, all of us are doing this because we’re trying to equip ourselves with practical tools, theories, and contacts we can use in our careers,” says John Fritz, a joint J.D./M.A. (I.R.) student. “It’s good to bounce ideas off of people—particularly people you don’t necessarily agree with.”

A case in point is Nocella, a social sciences Ph.D. student and long-time peace, environmental, and animal-liberation activist. “I’m sympathetic to organizations that many would see as extremist or terrorist,” he says. While his peers were debating the war on terror at the College of Law, Nocella was a guest lecturer at the FBI Academy, speaking about conflict resolution.

“There is no group-think in SATSA,” says Nocella. “There won’t be. The moment there is group-think the whole point of SATSA has fallen apart.”

                                                                                     —Renée Gearhart Levy