Life and death issues will be the subject of a 7 p.m. panel discussion, Wednesday, March 30, at the University of Tennessee at Martin. The discussion is titled “When exploring life and death, who decides?” and will be held in the Boling University Center’s Watkins Auditorium. The event is co-sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.

The panel will be moderated by Luther Mercer III, director, UT Martin Office of Multicultural Affairs. Audience discussion will be led by Kevin Teets, Sigma Phi Epsilon vice president.

Panelists, all members of the UT Martin faculty or staff, will include James Bruce, instructor of communications and faculty adviser to the student Right to Life chapter; Dr. David Coffey, interim chair, Department of History and Philosophy; Tomi McCutchen Parrish, instructor of communications; Dr. Michelle Santiago, staff psychologist, Office of Counseling and Career Services; Richard Saunders, assistant professor of library science, curator and university archivist, Paul Meek Library and Darrell Simmons, investigator, Department of Public Safety and adjunct political science instructor.

“People allow politics, medicine, law and faith to battle for dominance in today’s society,” Teets said. “From Terri Schiavo, pro-life vs. pro-choice, and the death penalty, American society is indeed faced with a cultural war.

“Every college should foster these types of educational discussions. This is a pervasive matter that extends to all of our personal lives and beliefs,” he added.

Mercer said that this open discussion offers an appropriate forum for discussing some highly complex issues. “We are having this panel to discuss the cultural issues of our time outside of the polarizing political debate,” he said.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity worked together on two other projects including the “Writing on the Wall Project” and the recent forum titled “Faith in the Face of Disaster.”

The panel discussion is free and open to the public. For information, call the Office of Multicultural Affairs at 731-881-7282