Brown students stage walkout in protest of war
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (U-WIRE) — At noon on Thursday, cruise missiles pummeled the city of Baghdad, protestors gathered by the thousands worldwide and at Brown University, President Ruth Simmons walked unnoticed past several hundred students on her way to University Hall, newly barricaded by wire fences. The Spring Weekend-size crowd on the Main Green never turned away from the steps of Faunce, where students and faculty spoke out against war with Iraq.
Organized by Students Against War in Iraq, the protest began with an 11:30 a.m. walkout from classes and continued for nearly two hours. Those who took the stage criticized military action, encouraged further demonstrations and contemplated the future of a nation now at war.
Behind the protesters, who stood facing Faunce House, Simmons crossed the Main Green to her office at noon. Fences surrounding the entrance to University Hall prohibited the protestors from approaching the building, although few ever turned away from the microphone.
Seth Bockley '03, a member of SAWI, said he never considered himself an activist until he joined the current antiwar movement.
"I feel really passionate about this particular war," he said. "It's outrageous in a way I've never seen before in my lifetime."
Bockley, who helped coordinate the demonstration, said he thought the majority of the several hundred students who converged on the Main Green at 11:30 a.m. had walked out of their morning classes, some with the encouragement of their professors. — Carla Blumenkranz
Penn students arrested at Thursday war protest
PHILADELPHIA (U-WIRE) — Early Thursday morning, at a time when most students were rolling out of bed and staggering to class in the rain, a handful of University of Pennsylvania students and professors were wide awake and heading somewhere else — to jail.
Five students and two professors were arrested during a blockade of the U.S. Federal Building on 6th and Market streets, with more students accompanying them as part of the protest. Groups of 20 to 35 individuals obstructed all building entrances, closing it for most of the morning, while about 400 other protesters stood in the street singing peace songs and chanting antiwar slogans.
The event was part of a national one-day effort by the Iraq Pledge of Resistance to block federal buildings in more than 40 cities.
Arrests began at approximately 9:15 a.m. at the building's 7th Street entrance. Federal Protective Service personnel told those blocking the entrance that they had three minutes to move. After the time had elapsed, they pulled individuals out of the human chain, asked for their names and photographed them. Officers then made protesters lie on their stomachs while their hands were tied behind their backs with plastic. They were then taken to detention cells in the Federal Courthouse before being arraigned.
U.S. Marshall Assistant Chief Bryan Curry said that about 100 protesters were arrested.
At least seven members of the Penn community were taken into custody: College and Engineering junior Kevin Bullaughey, first-year graduate student Randall Rose, College alumnus Kurt Spiridakis, Engineering and Wharton senior Jesse Tendler, Wolfson, Dutch Studies Professor Hans Van de Velde and Mathematics lecturer Stephen Preston.
Curry said that they were given a summary offense and offered the choice between paying a $250 fine or contesting the charges.
According to Rumsey, a few lawyers have offered to give the arrested protesters free legal aid if they need it.
Most of the Penn-affiliated protesters have not yet decided which route they will take.
In addition to challenging their arrests, some participants are also considering contesting the methods law enforcement officials used to detain them. — Mer Eckstut
War prompts Stanford professors to delay exams
STANFORD, Calif. (U-WIRE) — Worried that Stanford University students would be too distracted by the beginning of war in Iraq to focus on their exams, several professors have offered students affected by the war the option of taking their finals on alternate, later dates.
Professor Barton Bernstein from the History Department will allow members of his class, History 172A: The United States Since 1945, to take the final on April 5 if the students felt they were unable to study.
"These are unnerving days, with our nation about to go to war," Bernstein said in an email to the class. "The TAs and I realize that many students as a result may feel unable to concentrate on their studies and on preparations for final exams."
Sophomore Hal Brands estimated that about 20 people of the 80-member class chose not to take the final.
Management Science and Engineering Prof. Robert McGinn, who directs the program in Science, Technology and Society and teaches STS 110, decided that he would offer those students with close family or friends at risk of being killed in the military to take the Thursday final on Friday.
"I gave a lot of thought to the question and canvassed my TAs about it," McGinn said. "I decided that I would announce at the STS final that if there was anyone in the class who had a family member or any close friend at risk of being killed in the military activities being commenced, such that the student felt disabled from concentrating [on] studying for the final exam, that such students should come and see me and I would let them take the exam Friday." — Devon Maylie
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