Students and staff gather to protest war

By Shannon Curley
Collegian Staff
March 21, 2007

Four years after the United States initiated hostilities in Iraq, more than 150 students and faculty gathered on the Union patio on for a student-led protest of the Bush Administration’s handling of the war March 20.

The protest was scheduled to coincide with a national pattern of protests marking the anniversary of the increasingly unpopular war. Many people arrived early and gathered quietly into groups.

Students holding homemade signs against the war peppered the crowd. Forty tombstones were placed around the quad, each representing 80 soldiers who had died in Iraq.

Iraq War veteran Ryan Meisser, a senior marketing major, began the rally with a moment of silence in honor of Joseph Miles III, a student who passed away over the weekend.

Meisser went on to explain that when he joined the Navy, he supported the war, but now sees things differently. He pointed out that three years and 315 days ago, President Bush claimed that the war was over. Since then, 3,084 American soldiers have been killed.

“When I went to Iraq, I went right out of high school. It was a more popular war,” Meisser said. “Now, as we’re starting to find out more, it seems as though our administration was dishonest.”

After speaking, Meisser introduced one of the Christian Brothers to say a prayer for the fallen soldiers.

Another Iraq War veteran, senior finance and marketing major Jesse Hamilton, spoke at the gathering.

Hamilton explained that he volunteered to go to Iraq when he was a junior at La Salle in order to help train the Iraqi Army.

“The things that you see during war, you can’t train for that... to see brain matter thrown up against a wall,” Hamilton said. “Young people of college age are going through that right now 6,000 miles away.”

Hamilton went on to explain that during Vietnam there was a draft, and anyone could have been called into service at any time. He attributed the difference between the uproar over Vietnam on college campuses and the comparatively docile reaction to this war to the all-volunteer army.

When asked to explain his reasons for planning the protest, Hamilton said, “A lot of students are apathetic.”

The protest did not go without dissent. Hamilton reported that one individual took literature from both him and Meisser, crumpled it up and threw it on the ground at their feet.

“I think everybody has a right to protest. If a college student feels so strongly that we should be in war, they should pick up a rifle like I did and like Ryan did,” Hamilton said.

Two other peace activists and organizers of the protest, senior English majors Francesca Lo Basso and Leyla Eraslan spoke about the importance of getting involved.

“By being here, you are making a statement,” Lo Basso said.

The group that had gathered was somber, although they sporadically broke into applause, the audience mostly listened respectfully to each speaker.

“I don’t support any kind of violence at all,” said freshman psychology major Jim McAndrew when asked why he was attending the protest. “It’s a major violation of my beliefs as a pacifist.”

Students weren’t the only attendants. Faculty and staff members also came out to express their dissatisfaction with the war.

Human Resources Administrator Paul Roden, an experienced protester, stood with a sign he got from the national protest in Washington, D.C. in January. He gave up his lunch hour to protest again against the Iraq War.

“I’m just exercising my free speech. They can’t take that away from me—yet.” Roden said. “We should never have gone in. All of it was a lie. It had nothing to do with 9/11.”

curleys1@lasalle.edu