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Rev. Jim Lawson, who was close friend of Martin Luther King, Jr., will discuss current events in

As the battles rage on in the Middle East, students and professors at UCLA continue to engage in heated debates on the implications and effectiveness of war.

Some instructors are integrating the war with Iraq into the syllabi of their classes.

“We will give people a chance to talk and we will give them basic information on the war,” said Rev. Jim Lawson, who said the war will be a focus of the Nonviolence and Social Movements class he is teaching this quarter.

Lawson has substantial first-hand experience with nonviolence and social movements – he was one of the key figures who introduced the philosophy of nonviolence to Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.

Lawson, who said people become “pawns of society” when they don’t have information, said he wanted to create an environment were students can learn and freely voice their views on the war.

Getting information is critical to understanding a situation and evaluating all the possible options, something Lawson said the media has not done effectively.

The class will study the effectiveness of nonviolence in creating social change. Violence is effective in creating a change of power, but does not create lasting social change, Lawson said.

“After the bombs have dropped and after the killings in Palestine and Israel, the problems to be solved remain,” Lawson said.

He cited the massive sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement, which he helped organize, as an example of the effectiveness of nonviolence.

These sit-ins, where police and local residents used violence against people who were sitting down, raised the question of who was civilized and who was uncivilized, Lawson said.

“The right tactic turned the political climate on the right side,” he added.

Some of the lessons from social movements of the past have more relevance now than ever, according to Labor Center Director Kent Wong.

“It shows a clear example where nonviolent alternatives were not considered and cast aside in favor of military options,” Wong said.

The Labor Center at UCLA is one of the sponsors of the class and helped to design its curriculum.

Several departments have included the class in their course list, such as policy studies, African American studies, Chicano studies and Asian American studies.

As the structure of the class changed, student interest in the class changed – administrators chose to double the enrollment cap from 50 to 100 students to accommodate students.

Wong attributes the class’ growth to the lessons from today’s social movements.

“UCLA, as a learning institution, plays a very important role in providing a forum and opportunity where different perspectives and views on the war can be heard,” Wong said.