[originally in The Hartford Courant]

Not Your Father's Peace Protest
On Campuses, A Practical Anti-War Approach

March 5, 2003
By ROSELYN TANTRAPHOL, And WILLIAM WEIR Courant Staff Writers

At Smith College and Yale University, protesters have preferred die-ins. At the University of Texas at Austin, they've walked out of class by the thousands. At the University of Kansas, they've borrowed cellphones for a "virtual march" - as in coordinated calls meant to jam the phone lines of elected officials.

Welcome to anti-war protesting on college campuses in 2003.

Across the nation, from community colleges to liberal arts colleges, students are reporting a surge in on-campus anti-war activities. They're doing it politely, for the most part - typically alerting their administration ahead of time - and they're doing it in their own style.

They plan a major student strike today.

"I think the activists learned a long time ago that the media pays attention only if there's some sort of spectacle," said Kirstin Roberts, a Harold Washington College student and a member of the Chicagoland Student Anti-War Network.

Roberts said activists these days are looking at new methods of protest. There's less of an emphasis on waving signs and shouting slogans. Giant papier-mache puppets and samba bands have turned protest into a form of street theater.

Students of this generation analyze Vietnam-era protests in college courses. They attend weekend workshops on civil disobedience. Some say that while they respect the Vietnam-era activism that rocked campuses in the late '60s and early '70s, they're building a campaign against a possible war with Iraq by relying on what they know best: using the Internet as an organizing tool and crafting a practical message.

"We spend a lot of time trying not to come across as hippies," said Nick Braden, who attends the University of Louisville. "We stay away from vague, idealistic messages."

Anti-war students are also coordinating "Day X" walkouts to take place whenever an order is given to attack Iraq. They're setting up websites as their global clearinghouses for events, distributing press kits and posting talking points.

Many activists acknowledge that campuses have seemed pretty quiet. Some college professors who remember the Vietnam War protests say the recent activity surpasses what was seen during the early years of Vietnam. But Kenneth Heineman, a history professor in Ohio, isn't convinced.

"So as long as there's no draft, students will continue going to the bar and going to class," he said. "I don't see this movement being able to break out of its milieu."

Braden expects today's walkouts to take the cause to a new level. Students at more than 300 high schools and colleges have pledged to strike in an event coordinated by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition.

In Connecticut, at least two high schools and nine college campuses have plans for today's strike. They include teach-ins at Wesleyan University, an all-day sit-in at Fairfield University and events held in solidarity with striking union members at Yale University.

Members of a peace club at Hall High School in West Hartford are finalizing plans to skip class and join a teach-in at the University of Hartford, and a group of Glastonbury High School students have said they will strike.

Carrying the message of "Books Not Bombs," participants say their generation would shoulder a "war tax" if President Bush attempts to disarm Saddam Hussein without broad international support.

"Since tuition increases seem to be a popular trend around the country, it'll be looked upon first to find an easy solution for military spending," said University of Kansas junior Amanda Flott.

Organizers of anti-war protests say that in light of massive anti-war rallies held around the world, and as more students are convinced that war with Iraq is imminent, a diversified coalition is emerging. While the organizers plan activities with shock value - splattering fake blood and lying down on the ground for a die-in - they also offer more low-key activities to ensure that their classmates aren't turned off to the movement.

Mika Cade, one of the founders of the Smith College Anti-War Coalition in Northampton, Mass., pointed to the list of activities her group kicked off last week to encourage participation in the student strike, including viewings of documentaries on Iraq, a banner-signing and a weekend brunch discussion.

"Somebody might be too shy to come to a discussion, but they might be more comfortable making a banner," she said.

Mike Alewitz, who teaches mural painting at Central Connecticut State University and advises a student activist group, said anti-war sentiment seems to run very deep on campus. "It's much more widespread than during Vietnam," he said. "It took years to get to the point we're at now."

Bettina Aptheker, who was heavily involved in Vietnam activism while she attended the University of California at Berkeley, said she is encouraged. "The opposition to this war is more sustained, broader, deeper than anything we achieved in our opposition to the Vietnam War, even at the end of the war," said Aptheker, who teaches history at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

But Heineman, who wrote two books on student activism during Vietnam and teaches at Ohio University-Lancaster, is skeptical about the staying power of this campaign. He said he doesn't believe this anti-war effort will attract many students beyond those from politically liberal families attending what he calls "elite schools."

At his university, he said, most students have blue-collar backgrounds or military families, and the overwhelming majority of students agree with Bush.

In some places, in fact, counter-protests are taking root.

Members of a new group called the Yale College Students for Democracy say force may be necessary against Iraq. With about 35 active members, it isn't nearly as big as the campus peace coalition. But the group's president, Matthew Louchheim, says support is growing.

He said his organization reflects the way many of the less vocal students feel, especially since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "Because of 9/11, we now recognize the threats that are out there," he said.

The anti-war effort at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focuses on securing pledges for a mass walkout once - not if, organizers say - the U.S. enters Iraq.

MIT graduate student Anne Pollock said the walkout is intended to send a dual message: one to the White House to register opposition, and the other to tell the world not all Americans walk in lock step behind their president.

"`Don't target us'; I think that's a really practical sentiment," Pollock said.