Welcome to Crossroads!

Since 1995, the American Studies Crossroads Project has provided a comprehensive and integrated platform for pedagogical, scholarly, and institutional information for the international American Studies community.

As Crossroads celebrates more than a decade of online innovation and collaboration, the Crossroads team has redesigned the site to better reflect the range of resources and information available to students and educators of American Studies. We hope you enjoy the changes.

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The U.S.A. Patriot Act, Nationalism, and Intellectual Freedom

Articles

"Patriot Acts" by Tony Platt and Cecilia O'Leary.

"Confusing Occupation With Liberation" by Amy Kaplan.

"A Citizen’s Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States of America" by Wendell Berry.

"Curtailing Online Education in the Name of Homeland Security: The USA PATRIOT Act, SEVIS, and International Students in the United States" by Paul T. Jaeger and Gary Burnett.

"Key Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional: Internet Providers' Data at Issue" by Dan Eggen, Washington Post (9/30/2004).

Organizations

American Civil Liberties Union: U.S.A. Patriot Act. The ACLU "works in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." The ACLU has archived materials recently released by the Justice Department in response to Freedom of Information Act requests atPatriot FOIA.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), "a civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage," provides an Education Page as well as many articles on Arab-Americans in post-9/11 America, such as"Outreach process or racial profiling?" (8/26/2004).

American Library Association. A supporter of intellectual freedom, the ALA "opposes any use of governmental power to suppress the free and open exchange of knowledge and information or to intimidate individuals exercising free inquiry."

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values." This site provides an extensive overview of the Patriot Act, as well as many links to useful sources.

The Center for Democracy and Technology, like EPIC, offers a useful overview of the Patriot Act.

OMB Watch: Promoting Government Accountability. OMB Watch promotes "government accountability and citizen participation in public policy decisions. This mission centers on four main areas: the federal budget; regulatory policy; public access to government information; and policy participation by nonprofit organizations. Located in Washington, D.C., OMB Watch was founded in 1983 to lift the veil of secrecy shrouding the powerful White House Office of Management and Budget." Read OMB Watch's analysis of the Patriot Act at"The USA Patriot Act and its Impact on Nonprofit Organizations".

Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Project on Government Secrecy "works to challenge excessive government secrecy and to promote public oversight." FAS links to theSenate debate on amendments to the Patriot Act in September 2001.

EFF Analysis Of The Provisions Of The USA PATRIOT Act. The Electronic Frontiers Foundation "was created to defend our rights to think, speak, and share our ideas, thoughts, and needs using new technologies, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web."

Patriot Act II: Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003. The ACLU site provides a detailed summary of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, which is a sequel to the USA Patriot Act; Patriot Act II gives the government additional powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives and to simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information.

Student Peace Action Network. SPAN's new campaign, Flunk the War Machine, focuses on the military's infiltration of high schools and universities by challenging the No Child Left Behind Act's military recruitment provision, the USA PATRIOT Act's assault on civil liberties, and weapons contractors' ties to college campuses. DownloadSPAN's fact sheet on the Patriot Act and other materials here.

Rethinking Schools argues that "schools are integral not only to preparing all children to be full participants in society, but also to be full participants in this country's ever-tenuous experiment in democracy. That this vision has yet to be fully realized does not mean it should be abandoned." This Special Report examines"War, Terrorism, and Our Classrooms."

Information (sites unaffiliated with an organization)

Repeal the U.S.A. Patriot Act. This site calls for the immediate and total repeal of the 2001 USA Patriot Act because it "allows random arrests and detentions, concealment of Presidential records, legalizes 'sneak-n-peek' searches and seizures, and allows surveillance without probable cause."

Global Issues is a meticulously documented website by Anup Shah that covers issues ranging from trade, poverty and globalization, to human rights, geopolitics and the environment. The section "War on Terror" includes an article by Jennifer Van Bergen titled"The USA Patriot Act was Planned Before 9/11."

Re:constructions: Reflections on Humanity and Media After Tragedy is a resource and study guide, designed to spark discussions and reflections about the media's role in covering the events of 11 September 2001 and their aftermath.

Critical Media Literacy in Times of War. This interactive site focuses on U.S. foreign policy, military invasion and war and asks, "How do you read the news?"

Dangerous Citizen quotes Edward Abbey on its home page: "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. " The site's purpose is "to educate the reader about her/his right and duty, as an American Citizen, to dissent whenever the government acts unjustly." A particularly useful article is"Patriot Act needs wholesale changes to be lawful," by Iqbal Hossain, an adjunct professor of criminology at the University of Utah.

Theories

Postcolonial and Transnational Theories provided by T.V. Reed, Director of American Studies at Washington State University, Pullman.

Pedagogy Sites

Teaching Politics: Techniques and Technologies. Published by Dr. William J. Ball, Department of Political Science, The College of New Jersey, this site includes multimedia resources, conference papers, book reviews, a guide to teaching, virtual conference, and a discussion list.