September 20, 2001 Independent study course will compile youth reactions to attacks and related events By Jennifer McNulty Pamela Perry, assistant professor of community studies, is offering an independent study course this fall to students who want to participate in a student-led research project compiling youth reactions to the attacks and subsequent events. "It will be a crash course in research methods, with students going out, interviewing a lot of youth, compiling their findings, and then getting out the news about what they've learned," said Perry, whose own research interests focus on youth. A planning meeting for interested students takes place Friday, September 21, at 1 p.m., in Room 301 at College Eight. Perry wants her student collaborators to help shape the project, but she envisions researchers interviewing youth about how the September 11 terrorist attacks affected their identity as Americans, whether their racial attitudes have been affected, and how they feel about the implications of war, among other topics. About eight students have expressed interest in participating, said Perry, adding that she will encourage students to distribute their findings through newspaper opinion pieces and other outlets. Subjects will likely be high school students and people in their early 20s, said Perry. "If we could conduct in-depth interviews with at least 200 young people, that would be beautiful. And I bet we could," she said. "I bet we could."