Last week, the news media began circulating a new collection of photos displaying the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American military at Abu Ghraib prison. The photos come from around the same time as those that CBS and the New Yorker published in 2004, when news of the scandal at Abu Ghraib was first released.They are photos of guards beating prisoners. Standing on them. Threatening them with dogs. Some prisoners are smeared with feces. Some covered in blood. Restrained in impossible positions. Naked. Forced to engage in sexual acts.They are photos of indescribable depravity. Words do not do them justice.Nor has our reaction to these photos brought justice. Though the media published similar photos two years ago, those images have been, for the most part, forgotten. Until we give attention to the atrocities documented at Abu Ghraib, there will be no justice. We must recognize that, as Americans, we are in some part responsible for what goes on in American prisons around the world. We must know, too, that unless we make the effort to assess and correct the situation, it will continue.Many editorialists, academics and policy critics have discussed the need to uncover the institutional decisions that led to the alleged abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. They argue that higher-ups allowed or authorized the Abu Ghraib attrocities. An Army report on the incident, the Taguba report, blamed the soldiers themselves, those who committed these “grave breaches of humanitarian law,” but likewise decried the fact that senior officials allowed the abuse.While it is easy to debate politics and point fingers at bureaucratic malfunctioning, we find it difficult to address the finer implications of the Abu Ghraib photos. These images reveal the failure of personal responsibility-from the highest to lowest levels of military hierarchy, but also of the individual. They remind us that we have a duty to dissent when wrong orders are given.At a Jesuit University, we hope to instill honest values in our students, regardless of their walk of life, whether military or civilian. Students should leave this institution with an understanding of moral obligation. Such is the goal of educating the whole person. And Jesuits are not known for complacency-students of Jesuits should understand the need to speak out against unethical dictates. Students should learn compassion at this school, and integrity. Professors, we hope, teach these pillars.Abu Ghraib matters. Clearly, it matters to those affected by the abuse. It matters to the military, whose credibility here and elsewhere in the world has been undermined by this scandal. And it matters to us: as Americans, as students, as humans.We must take responsibility. As university students, we have the unique opportunity to use our classrooms to discuss the issues that matter to us. We possess the time and resources to discuss these problems, to educate ourselves about their solutions and take action toward their resolution.If nothing else, the photos from Abu Ghraib remind us that evil still lurks in the recesses of apathy and complacency. These atrocities should not have occurred. To do justice to the situation, what is needed is care. That Abu Ghraib pictures have been published in the media and whistleblowers have instigated review of the abuse gives us faith that some acknowledge this responsibility. We challenege our readers to cultivate the same sense of responsibility. When you read the news, ask yourself what you think about the decisions that others are making. Discuss it with your friends and family. And hope that, should you be confronted with a moral challenge as those at Abu Ghraib have, you will have the strength and courage to act justly.