US students walk out of class to protest war

U.S. Students Protest Possible Iraq War
By JOANN LOVIGLIO
Associated Press Writer

March 5, 2003, 3:38 PM EST

High school and college students across the country walked out of class
Wednesday to protest a war with Iraq, holding a series of rallies
organizers predicted would be the biggest campus demonstrations since the
Vietnam War.

Tens of thousands of students at more than 300 colleges and universities
pledged to join in the protests, according to the National Youth and
Student Peace Coalition. Thousands of students also rallied for peace in
Britain, Sweden, Spain, Australia and other countries.

The Books Not Bombs protests were also geared to call attention to the
effects of a war's costs on education, health care and the economy. But
the focus was the looming threat of war with Iraq.

Manon Terrell, a 19-year-old sophomore, missed three classes to take part
in a rally at Stanford University, where about 300 people carried signs
that read "It's the Middle East, not the Wild West" and "The majority of
us didn't vote for this war."

"This is a personal thing for me because my friends are going to fight
this war," said Terrell, a civil engineering major. "It's not going to be
Bush and his cronies in business suits on the front lines. They're going
to take people of color and poor people."

Dozens of Stanford professors endorsed the rally, either by telling
students there would be no penalties for leaving class or by canceling
class.

About 500 students walked out of class at the University of Maryland. In
Milwaukee, 40 students lined the sidewalk in front of the Marquette
University student union during an hour-long protest.

"It's good to let people know students have a say in what happens in the
world," said Abir Chaudhry, 19, who carried a sign that read "God Does Not
Bless America Only."

Sporadic rain fell as about 1,500 protesters -- and a small number of Bush
supporters holding a counter demonstration -- gathered at Penn State
University.

After an hour-long rally, about half the protesters marched four blocks to
the municipal building, where Mayor Bill Welch accepted petitions asking
the borough council to oppose war with Iraq and resist elements of the USA
Patriot and the Homeland Security acts.

About 125 students and a few faculty members turned out in gray, drizzly
weather for a rally at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Ross Meyer, a
junior and founder of a student peace group, said he was disappointed by
the turnout.

"I am patriotic and loyal to my country," he told the crowd. Someone
called out to urge the crowd to support the government if the United
States invades Iraq.

Two sisters, Kate and Allie Dunn, traveled to a New York City anti-war
rally from suburban Westchester County to express their support of the
Bush administration. "Remember 9-11?" asked a sign carried by 18-year-old
Kate.

Farther north, around 100 people took part in a "Mall Walk for Peace" at a
suburban Albany, N.Y., shopping mall to protest the arrest of 61-year-old
man who wore a T-shirt that read "Peace on Earth" and "Give Peace a
Chance" while he shopped two days earlier.

Another anti-war group, Not in Our Name, called on workers to call out
sick and business owners to close up shop Wednesday as part of a "national
moratorium to stop the war on Iraq." It could not immediately be
determined whether any widespread sick-outs had occurred.

Andrew Pearson took the day off from work to hang anti-war banners from
highway bridges and later joined a demonstration at the University of
North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

"We're trying to show folks across North Carolina that people are ready
and willing to disrupt their daily lives to stop the war," Pearson said.

Joe McTaggart, 49, who skipped work and joined about 100 demonstrators in
Raleigh, N.C., said he thinks a war is "going to be such a disaster I had
to come out."

"There's a lot of people who are against the war, but don't say anything,"
he said.

In Virginia, where many colleges were on spring break, only two students
showed up for a demonstration at Virginia Commonwealth University in
Richmond.

"If this were something the world wanted to do together, I would support
it," said Jim Sparks, a 32-year-old biology graduate student. "It's a big
mistake to go it alone."