2003 William E. Colby Military Writers' Symposium

By Scott Craven
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

On April 9-11, 2003, Norwich University hosted the eighth annual William E. Colby Military Writers' Symposium. Founded in 1996, this is the thirteenth Writers' Symposium overall, including five at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Norwich is currently the only school in the country that hosts the Military Writers' Symposium.

"I think it's really, really important for students to have the opportunity to address the leadership speakers that come to Norwich," said Ed Tracy, the executive director of the Colby Symposium. "Anytime you bring top authors to Norwich, it's a great opportunity to put anything on the table. Part of the Colby Symposium goal is to lay out a broad topic and allow students to interact with the authors."

According to Tracy, the Colby Symposium has always tried to put authors in the classroom, to provide special sessions of interest in areas of their expertise, and then to have a public session so the students can ask them questions.

"I think every year the authors and participants have always been very forthcoming, very open, and try to do the best thing they can for the students," Tracy said. "I think that's a great model that the university should adopt for all other kinds of speaker programs."

The purpose of the Writers' Symposium is to expose Norwich students, faculty, alumni, and the public to the works and views of authors, historians, journalists, and national figures in order to educate, enlighten and inspire them.

"I think reading gives you an edge, and in a competitive world you need an edge," said Victor O'Reily, New York Times best selling author and a member of this year's panel. "I think it's very important that people read, and it helps to read if you can communicate with the actual writer," O'Reily said. "It helps to spread an understanding of the craft of writing, and by bringing people here and doing that kind of thing, you are encouraging an understanding of both reading and writing."

The Colby Symposium has brought over fifty top authors, historians, and filmmakers to the Northfield campus. The participants reside at Norwich for two days of open forums, lectures, and other related functions. Included in this list are famous names such as Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, Joseph Galloway, Gordon Sullivan, Claudia Kennedy, and Stephen Coonts.

"We always try to get people [who] are both widely published and available," Tracy said. According to Tracy, the program had lined up three top authors for this year's discussion, but, due to their line of work and involvement in the war in Iraq they were not able to be present. Those authors included Rick Atkinson, Sean Naylor, and Joseph Galloway.

"Those three people are not only military writers, but they're also involved in writing military work for their employers," Tracy said. "And when the world is at war, those people are doing their job, and so we took a risk thinking that perhaps the war would be over, and if it wasn't we would adjust, and we did adjust."

Although Atkinson was not able to be here in person, the university's technology crew was able to set up a live interview with him in Iraq via satellite.

"This is a world class production," said Richard Schneider, president of Norwich University. "I was so thrilled that the technology worked for the call in from Iraq. That was really wonderful that we had our own personal report from the front."

Featuring both new and previous participants, this year's panel included: W.E.B Griffin, Carlo D'Este, Reina Pennington, Bryan Mark Rigg, Colonel Douglas A. Macgregor, USA (Ret.), and Victor O'Reilly. Among the distinguished guests were LTG Dave Palmer, USA (Ret.), and Paul Colby, the son of the late Ambassador William Colby. Asking questions of the panel was Dr. Lewis Sorley, the executive director of the Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States and also a member on the Board of Directors of the Army Historical Foundation.

"I think it's a privilege for these writers to come here and interact with the Corps of Cadets," Sorley said. "You have to have some kind of interaction with the audience, and I thought the students asked a lot of good questions. There was a good range of questions, too, and I was also glad that we had plenty of them, because if we didn't have questions, we wouldn't have had such a good discussion."

According to Schneider, he was happy to see some of the underclassmen get up and ask questions.

"I was pleased that so many freshmen and sophomores asked questions," Schneider said. "It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of a whole school and try to articulate a question or a comment, and I'm very proud of them."

"I liked the change in format, too, this year," Schneider said. "Only asking the panel one question at the beginning, and then giving the rest of the time to the student body to ask questions was a good idea," Schneider said. "I think it's a lot more interesting when the students ask the questions that are on their minds and then let the panel deal with them."

The topic of this year's discussion was Uncommon Valor: Ethical Lessons in Military Literature. According to Tracy, this year marked the 50th anniversary of the Honor Code at Norwich University, and the president wanted a topic that would coincide with that.

"This place, in particular with the honor code at Norwich, strives to provide cadets with the training on ethics," said James Pritzker, a member on the Board of Trustees. "The purpose of a University education is to give one some depth intellectually. What are the ethical considerations for making decisions, coupled with knowing how to analyze a situation and draw upon lessons from the past, and to move forward into the future," Pritzker said.

Bryan Rigg, author of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers and winner of the 2003 Colby Award, said that the significance of this year's topic was intended to stimulate students' minds about the career path that they are choosing.

"Hopefully, this type of symposium will influence our leaders of tomorrow," Rigg said. "They're going to be dealing with a lot of these issues, specifically ethics, morals, and integrity. They're going to be faced with it, whether it's at the platoon level or whether it's in an actual war zone, and hopefully this debate served to stimulate the students to think about those hard issues that they're going to be faced with," Rigg said.

The Writers' Symposium was founded in 1996 and renamed in memory of the late Ambassador William E. Colby in 1997. Mr. Colby was a long-time friend of Norwich University and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service by the University in 1992.

In 1997, Vermont Public Television taped the public session for broadcast - an association that continued for three years. In 1998, the Symposium established a partnership with the Eric Friedheim Library of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to co-produce events at the Press Club for area alumni, club members and the general public.

"We wanted to see if we could bring something to Norwich that Norwich had never had before," said Carlo D'Este, NU'58 and Symposium co-founder. "Each year, we're trying to do something a little bit different and make this a little bit better," D'Este said. "The whole object is to bring to Norwich outstanding figures and give the students a chance to be exposed to them. That's really what it's all about. It's all for the students."

According to D'Este, one of the reasons Bill Colby's name is the heart of the program is who he was and what he stood for.

"The American tradition is of a nation born of rebellion and unwillingness to sacrifice freedom for the status quo," D'Este said. "At a period in our history when patriotism too often seems to be a forgotten word, and where there are fewer and fewer dedicated public servants whose service to this country shines even brighter," D'Este said. "The easy way out is to tell people what they want to hear. Bill Colby never took the easy way. He was the exemplar of a selfless public servant who was never afraid to tell the truth, no matter how unpleasant, or how portentous the consequences."

According to President Schneider, this type of service is exactly in compliance with Capt. Alden Partridge and the mission that he set forth at Norwich years ago.

"The Writers Symposium is American in perspective, yet global in character. It's both educational and military, together. It's not like they have to be separate," Schneider said. "The Symposium applies all of our good critical thinking, our reasoning, and understanding of current events. These are all skills that our military officers need."

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