LAUREN PUTNOCKY -- The Flat Hat Students, faculty and members of the Williamsburg community gathered yesterday to protest the war in Iraq. At its peak, the group numbered around 200 people. Yesterday's protest involved rallies at the sundial and Wren Building, speakers and protestors in the street at Confusion Corner.

War and Peace
Student groups protest U.S. military action in Iraq

By Meghan Williams
Flat Hat Asst. News Editor

Part of the College community's reaction to the war in Iraq was visible yesterday during an anti-war protest organized by several students with later support and cooperation by the William and Mary Cooperation for Peace Action. The event drew participation from approximately 200 people, including students both from the College and local high schools, faculty of the College and Williamsburg community members.

The group of protestors met yesterday at 4 p.m. at the sundial between Swem Library and Andrews Hall and after a 15-minute rally, marched to the Wren Building, where they listened to speakers from the crowd. Some protestors gathered in the street at Confusion Corner before the group marched back along Jamestown Road to return to the sundial for another short rally.

LAUREN PUTNOCKY -- The Flat Hat Junior Gabriel Kauper, one of the protest organizers, marches with other students and community members.

Junior Gabriel Kauper, one of the organizers and the emcee of the event, said the goal during the march from the sundial to the Wren Building was to be visible to traffic during the first rally. He entreated the participants to "sing, scream, chant, play music [and] be heard" as they marched across Barksdale Field, down Landrum Drive, across the University Center terrace, along the brick walkway to the north of the Sunken Gardens and to the front of the Wren Building.

Many marchers brought signs, and some carried mostly homemade musical instruments like whistles, horns, drums and shakers made from aluminum cans with coins inside to draw more attention as they marched and to emphasize their agreement with speakers.

Chants the group repeated during on their way to Wren included "What do we want? Peace. When do we want it? Now," and "One, two, three, four, we don't want your fucking war. Five, six, seven, eight, pull out now it's not too late."

Anthropology professor Bill Fisher was the first to speak to the crowd once they gathered in front of Wren.

"You guys are really beautiful," he told the protestors, thanking them for their attendance and participation.

According to Fisher, the international community has not backed President George W. Bush's aggression towards Iraq because the rest of the world "is seeing and hearing things we're not seeing and hearing."

"Show us the aluminum tubes, show us the nuclear weapons," Fisher said in an effort to see more proof of the evidence Bush has cited as a reason for the war. "Give us something else."

Fisher asked the crowd to keep protesting as the United States continues or escalates action in Iraq.

LAUREN PUTNOCKY -- The Flat Hat A student holds a sign demonstrating his support of U.S. military action.

Fisher also said that even though military action in Iraq has begun, diplomacy cannot be abandoned because of the need for solutions to problems in other areas around the globe.

"This discussion has to take place, even if the bombs are falling," he said. Problems "don't begin with Iraq, they don't stop with Iraq."

After Fisher's speech, Kauper invited other members of the crowd to share their feelings.

Sophomore Colin Chaudhuri was the first to speak. He said he appreciated the chance to speak, and used his time to refute some perceived accusations that the anti-war protestors were not supporting American troops in Iraq. Chaudhuri said that the protestors were supporting the troops, but wanted them back at home and not participating in an unjustified war.

Freshman Julia Kriz was disappointed that protesters were not as unified as she believed they could have been. She said she saw protestors with signs more directed to other topics.

"We are here for one purpose," she said. "We are here to protest the war in Iraq."

Sophomore Matthew Lancaster brought a religious argument before the group. He commented on the idea that the war in Iraq is justified because of the actions of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"There is no criteria whatsoever for a just war," he said.

Lancaster was also one of the organizers of the event. He was not surprised by the turnout, which he estimated to be 200 to 300 strong.

"I really was [expecting that many] just because people are so emotionally charged about this issue," he said. People are angry about not being listened to by their government, so "they're coming out in droves now."

Senior Joe Gumina took the opportunity to speak despite some opposition from the crowd after he began expressing his views. He challenged the protestors' understanding of the situation under Hussein's government in Iraq.

The reason the Iraqi people are starving, according to Gumina, "isn't because of sanctions," he said. "It's because Saddam Hussein is too busy building marble houses and missiles than to feed his own people."

He reminded the protestors that it was because of the American democratic form of government that they had the right to protest, referring to the First Amendment to the Constitution.

"Don't the people of Iraq have the same right?" he asked.

Although there were 10 to 12 police officers visible around Confusion Corner when the protestors moved there, Deputy Chief of Williamsburg Police Dave Sloggie did not wish to give an exact number of officers present. He said there was a sufficient amount, with more standing by.

"The police department has no qualms with protestors," he said. "We just want to make sure they're peaceful."

Sloggie said the officers were prepared to make arrests, but did not do so. The officers spent a short time re-routing traffic around and away from the protestors.

Several students watched the rally and the following march back to the sundial after the protests at Confusion Corner from the doorway of Taliaferro Hall.

Freshmen Steven Popps and Paul Van Fleet said the majority of Taliaferro residents were united in support of Bush's action in Iraq.

LAUREN PUTNOCKY -- The Flat Hat Anti-war protesters march down Blair drive past Zable Stadium toward Confusion Corner. Yesterday's protest involved around 200 people and lasted nearly an hour and a half, despite the rain.

"We did not want to be associated with that movement," Popps said of their decision to watch and not attend the rally.

Both freshmen said they believed the anti-war protestors were not supporting American troops, and that they did not appreciate this sentiment.

"We believe [the war] was necessary," Van Fleet said.

The group rallied again when they returned to the sundial, where Kauper addressed them again.

"Please cultivate peace in your lives," Kauper asked them. "There is no way to peace, peace is the way."

At the end of the protest rally, Kauper promised "more galvanizing rallies in the near future," although definite plans are not available. However, Lancaster said there will be a WMCPA meeting Sunday at 7 p.m. in Washington 201.

Student military involvement

LAUREN PUTNOCKY -- The Flat Hat Sophomore Colin Chaudhuri argued that anti-war protestors actually support the armed forces.

Some students of the College have already been deployed as part of the American military contingent in Iraq. Students involved with the military science department and ROTC program at the College discussed the effect the departure of their peers has had.

Cadet 2nd Lt. Larrah Watson, a junior, said a friend had left recently for training in California.

"He knew it was coming," Watson said. "He got a packing list in the fall. He just didn't know when" he would be asked to go.

Cadet Platoon Sgt. Nathan Hepler, a sophomore, also knew students who had been deployed and said they saw it as their duty.

"ROTC would be an example of a group that is willing to serve in a war if that's where we're sent," Hepler said. "One hundred percent of those who have left that I know were excited to leave."

Hepler compared ROTC students to medical students, who spend years of schooling training for a chance to work in the hospital. For ROTC students, an opportunity to serve is like the medical student's opportunity to work in a hospital, he said.

Both Watson and Hepler remarked upon changes they have seen recently in the ROTC program because of the war.

The spring Field Training Exercise for ROTC was supposed to be a three-day weekend of training for the group at Fort Eustis, but was cancelled due to the fact that other guard units are using the facilities for training as the prepare to leave for Iraq.

Watson said their training, however, was still a priority.

"We are being taught how to go to war," she said. "I think it's necessary to some extent."

She also spoke to the equality of the training she receives as the only female MS-3, or third year military science student.

"Even as a female, I won't ever have to do stuff I'm doing in ROTC, but they train us the same way," she said.

Neither Hepler nor Watson expected there would be many public expressions by ROTC students of their views of the war.

"There will be no expression," Hepler said. "We do have opinions. If we support the war effort, that is not something that anyone in the military is asked to share with anyone."

Watson agreed.

"I think the way we express ourselves is through silence," she said. "I don't personally agree with war, but it's my duty to serve the country."

Watson did not begrudge the protestors the right to their beliefs; instead, she wanted to make it clear that ROTC supports and aids this right.

"I'm fighting for the right for these people to protest, basically," she said. "That's their liberty of speech."

Watson said one aspect of student reaction to herself and her fellow ROTC students disappointed her.

She said when she is in uniform, she will sometimes get looks from other students as if they hold her responsible for the war.

According to Watson, this is worse when several ROTC members are together in a group.

However, "that's just something we deal with," she said.

Both Watson and Hepler cited respect for the orders from those above them as a characteristic of ROTC members. Watson expressed support for Bush.

"I have the utmost respect for the man because he's my extreme commanding officer," Watson said. "He's my Commander-in-Chief, and what he says goes."

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