Tuesday, October 9, 2001

Students Protest and Show Support for U.S. Military Strikes in Afghanistan By DANA MULHAUSER Students at several colleges walked out of classes and held protests Monday in response to U.S. military actions in Afghanistan. The rallies -- at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges, the University of California at Berkeley, and Wesleyan University -- attracted hundreds of students, although many students did not attend or held counter-protests backing the government's response to last month's terrorist attacks. At Wesleyan, in Connecticut, organizers asked students to leave their morning classes after 10 minutes and explain to professors and fellow students that they were taking part in a protest against military action. Jessica Duval left her Organic Chemistry exam to join the rally. "I invited everybody to join me, but no one did," she said. About 200 students did attend the rally and the teach-in that followed. Students at those colleges and a number of others have been preparing protests for the past several weeks, planning to walk out of classes the day after a military strike. Because of the Columbus Day holiday and other scheduled vacations, organizers on some campuses are still waiting. Students at Amherst and Smith Colleges, who had planned to walk out of classes the day after the attacks, had no classes to walk out of. At other colleges, student protesters joined local activists in community-wide rallies. At the University of Iowa, students and nonstudents alike heard professors speak at a rally in downtown Iowa City. At Berkeley, the anti-war protest was matched by a vigorous counter-rally in support of U.S. action. Both sides took their megaphones to Sproul Plaza at noon, with the cacophony drawing more than 1,000 participants and spectators. While one group chanted for peace, the other yelled, "U.S.A., U.S.A." "I don't know what these anti-war protesters are doing," said Anka Lee, president of the Cal Democrats. "This is not Vietnam." At Haverford, the lone activist defending the U.S. military response took to the roof of a nearby building, yelling at the protesters. When anti-war protesters climbed up with an offering of food, however, he came down and joined their open-mike session. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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