Students Protest Against War with Iraq

CHICAGO–J.S. Irick, shivering in only his underwear, chained himself to a flag pole and smeared his body with red paint to represent blood. Scores flung themselves on the student union floor to dramatize the innocent Iraqis they say will die if the U.S invades that country. More than 1,000 others skipped classes and trekked through several inches of snow Wednesday afternoon for an antiwar ”teach-in” at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller chapel.
The acts of defiance on this campus were part of a coast-to-coast effort in which thousands of high school and college students cut class, read poetry, performed skits and played loud rock music in an effort to halt what they view as an irrational march toward war in Iraq.
More than 300 high schools and colleges participated in the protest, characterized as a national student strike. Thousands of students in Britain, Sweden, Spain and Australia rallied in solidarity with their counterparts in America, who wanted to highlight the effects of war on domestic issues, including on education, health care and the economy.
Many, like Irick, argued that spending billions to wage war will result in senseless deaths and do little to enhance America’s security. ”I like feeling and sleeping safe as much as anyone else,” said Irick, 21, a junior computer science major. ”But what we’re doing isn’t helping that. I’m just trying to get people thinking.”
Officially called the ”Books Not Bombs” protest, the effort was coordinated by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, which includes 15 student groups that joined forces after the Sept. 11 attacks. Unlike anti-war rallies last month in Washington and Europe that drew hundreds of thousands in a single place, this event was intentionally more diffused, with small events at participating colleges and high schools.
Events at UCLA, the University of Colorado and the University of Wisconsin drew more than a 1,000, according to school officials. Others drew sparse crowds. The University of Texas at Austin, for instance, had 100 people attend. A protest at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas drew about 25 to 30 at one time. Fewer than expected turned out at U.C. Berkeley, where about 500 students marched all over campus and made demands upon Berkeley’s administration.
”Every university around the country went into their rallies with a demand for their administration,” said junior Amanda Crater. ”Ours was that the chancellor take an anti-war stance and at least give attention to our voices, because all over the world right now, protesters are just being ignored by the president.”
Regardless of numbers, however, the the message was that a war with Iraq has few positives.
”The money for the war is being taken from domestic priorities,” said Shaunda Wage, 23, who organized a rally at the University of Missouri-Kansas City that drew about 150 people. ”Our governor just announced a huge cut for public schools and tuition is going up next year.”
At Evanston Township High School north of Chicago about 1,000 teen-agers circled the 3,600-pupil school in a march that lasted for one class period.
In the Washington area, about 800 students attended a sit-in at Northwestern High in Hyattsville, Md. Principal William Ritter said students wanted to walk out, but changed their plan when he allowed them to use the auditorium. Another 200 students rallied at Howard University. ”I have a test in Shakespeare,” sighed Goldie Patrick, 20, a junior who skipped class in the name of peace. Organizers said the majority of those at the rally had cut class.
A demonstration at the University of Maryland-College Park drew 300. And students at Washington’s American University wrote letters to President Bush, stuffing the envelopes with rice to urge his administration to feed, not bomb, Iraq. ”This is a pre-emptive strike against a threat that still hasn’t materialized,” said AU sophomore Jared Hall, 19, who wrote Bush a letter.