Hundreds Walk Out to Oppose Possible War in Iraq
By Jenny Mertz-Shea
News Associate

Some brandished big hand-painted signs and marched up front, hollering "What do we want? PEACE! When do we want it? NOW!" Still others trailed quietly towards the back, clearly bemused by their more energetic colleagues, but firm in their resolve to be part of the protest.

On Wednesday, March 5, students and faculty at the Claremont Colleges joined others across the nation for a strike to protest the war against Iraq. According to the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition website, www.nyspc.net, over 300 high school and college campuses participated, including UCLA, UC-Berkeley, UT-Austin, NYU, Duke, Rutgers, Cornell, and Harvard. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that thousands of students in Britain, France, Sweden, Spain, Australia, Switzerland and Senegal also walked out of class, making the strike global.

Marching through the streets of Claremont was just one activity of many for 5-C strikers. There were about ten speeches and several musical performances; a handful of students gathered to paint Walker wall. Organizers set up tables for students to design posters, sign anti-war pledges, or decorate t-shirts with slogans like "Question Authority" and "Bongs Not Bombs."

Still, the march was undoubtedly the climax: by the time strikers wound their way from Walker Beach through the CMC, Pitzer, Harvey-Mudd, and Scripps campuses, the march had snowballed into a massive procession. Longer than a city block and about four or five people wide, the column of protestors managed to block up traffic while crossing College Avenue. When they tromped through Smith Campus Center, whooping and chanting, creating a substantial din.

Protest organizers estimate that by the end of the day, more than 800 students had signed pledge cards opposing the war. They said attendance numbers hovered around 200 throughout the course of the afternoon.

"I think that today demonstrated how important this issue is for students at the Claremont Colleges," observed Keara Duggan CMC '05.

Scripps's Motley Café was closed for the day in a show of support. The Motley staff released a statement which asserted: "The women of the Motley Coffeehouse believe that it is unconscionable to send… the U.S. armed forces into combat in an illegal war that serves only the interests of Big Oil."

Co-Vending Manager Beth Spitler SC '05 said the 11 members of the Motley manager team voted unanimously to participate in the strike. "We felt like the Motley, as a student organization and central meeting ground, needed to take a stand," she said. "It's a pretty obvious statement because so many people from different campuses come here, and they'll see why we're closed."

Classes were shut down in support, as well. Duggan said her International Politics and Anthropology classes were both cancelled for the day. According to Duggan, at least 48 classes were cancelled on Wednesday.

Laura Cocas PI '03 said her philosophy class was also cancelled, but she still had to miss work to attend the strike as a "show of solidarity."

Tricia Burkhart SC '03 was not so lucky; with a midterm scheduled for later in the day, Burkhart couldn't afford to skip class. But she showed up for part of the protest.

"I've been feeling disenfranchised because the war is going to happen," she explained, and protesting is "a way to feel power."

Filiberto Nolasco PI '04 said he missed his Spanish Civil War class because "this was important to me." In terms echoed by other protestors, he described striking as a symbolic gesture in which students sacrifice a day of their education to demonstrate commitment to this cause.

Some might allege that college students are often all too willing to skip classes. However, according to Claremont Peace Coalition (CPC) member Caitlin Dwyer '06, that is not the case in Claremont.

"I was surprised that so many students were hesitant to skip class," Dwyer observed. Still, she added, she felt students needed to participate. "The colleges have a tendency to live in a bubble, and this is a way of breaking that bubble."

"This is a national thing, and this is happening all over the country," her fellow CPC member Laura Nixon '05 pointed out. "It's worth the sacrifice to have an impact."

Claremont faculty members also graced the ranks of protestors. In fact, History Professor Victor Silverman was one of the first speakers to take the podium.

"Power won't listen to you unless you make a lot of noise," he declared. "If this movement gets big enough… then [Bush] has to listen. Then we will have power, and that's the only thing that will stop Bush's power."

Silverman predicted Bush will probably go ahead with plans to attack Iraq. But also offered the assembled students some words of encouragement, telling them that this was the largest demonstration he'd seen at Pomona in some time.

Pitzer Sociology Professor Jose Calderon also gave a speech. He questioned the true motives of the Bush administration, and suggested Bush's time would be better spent focusing on the home front.

"Big oil is what this administration and this war is all about," he shouted into the microphone.

Other Claremont faculty members took part in the march or just showed up to listen and be supportive. Scripps Politics Professor Thomas Kim said he'd been running back and forth between his office and Walker Beach all day in order to "catch bits and pieces."

Kim is a member of the recently established group Claremont Faculty for Peace and Justice. According to Kim, the group's formation was inspired in part by the "amazing activism of students."

"I think it's fair to say that many faculty are deeply disturbed by the rush to war," observed Scripps History Professor Cindy Forster.

Emily Taylor SC '04 claimed that everyone she's spoken to opposes the war. "By far, from what I've experienced, the majority [of college students] are anti-war," she said.

But college students and faculty aren't alone. "My grandfather stormed the beach at Normandy, and he opposes this war," noted Burkhart.

Indeed, generational comparisons seemed to be an integral part of discussions about the current anti-war movement. Many in attendance readily drew comparisons between the current generation of college students and Baby Boomers.

"It hasn't been this big since Vietnam," Taylor said.

Nixon agreed: in this case, the anti-war protests got started before the war did. "There's not even a war yet," she said. "I think it's amazing that such an opposition has sprung up."

For their part, Claremont strikers decided to end the day on a nostalgic note: organizers herded the remaining attendees into one big circle and proceeded to sing old protest songs. As an a capella rendition of "We Shall Overcome" wafted across Walker Beach, they shifted position to form a slightly misshapen peace sign.