The American Experience in Vietnam

Jake Delaurier, staff writer

As the end of the fall semester at PVCC draws near, many students are planning out their class schedules for the spring semester. For students looking for an interesting history course, they should look no further than The American Experience in Vietnam.

The American Experience in Vietnam will be a 16-week course taught by the Dean of Humanities, Fine Arts & Social Sciences Clifford Haury. Class will be held on Wednesdays from 7 to 9:45 p.m. in Spring 2017.

“Students can expect to be surprised that the Vietnam war and the experience for Americans is remarkably complicated, but is also a look into how wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are in part a continuation of the type of warfare we experienced in Vietnam. Students can also expect lots of music because the anti-war sentiment in the U.S. caused there to be an amazing body of music of protest, including recent Nobel-prize winning Bob Dylan, and later Bruce Springsteen and a host of others. Finally, a great irony is that the U.S. missed chances along the way to avoid the war but did not,” said Haury.

The American Experience in Vietnam will also serve as Haury’s last class before retirement.

“I wanted to teach it as my last class at PVCC while I am dean and history professor, but students should focus on the fact that Vietnam was a war fought largely by 18 year-olds who were drafted, and that if there is another crisis like it, the draft would fill the ranks again,” said Haury.

Haury has  taught people who have been impacted by war. “I have had PVCC students, veterans, families of veterans who had the war make a profound effect on their families, take the class. It has never been just an ordinary class,” said Haury.