Students from across the nation spring break in protest
Washington Square News (NYU)
Rachel Smith
Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: National News
WASHINGTON, D.C. (U-WIRE) - Wesleyan University freshman Laura Heath was trying really hard not to get arrested last week.
What would happen if she had? "Tuition removal," she said with a shrug. "Or car removal," a nearby friend added.
So goes the life of the college activist.
For the past two weeks, Heath, her friend and more than 60 other students from various colleges and high schools spent their spring break risking jail time -- and not for public drunkenness in a resort town. They were practicing a little civil disobedience in the nation's capital.
As part of the group founded at Wesleyan University called Our Spring Break, these young protesters used their mid-march vacation to bring an end to the Iraq war.
The ruckus started on March 7 when the first busload of Our Spring Breakers arrived in D.C. Together, they planned a series of "direct actions" to raise awareness leading up to March 19, the fifth anniversary of the war. Their efforts included visiting Congress members' offices to deliver "stop-loss notices" demanding that Congress stay in session until the war ends. Stop-loss orders are given to troops to extend the time they are in active duty. These orders are only legal during declared war, and the war in Iraq was never declared, said Heath, a Wesleyan freshman.
"Over 70,000 troops have been given stop-loss orders since the start of fighting in Afghanistan," she said.
That wasn't all the spring breakers did. They coordinated several small protests with other peace movement groups, including the Campus Anti-War Network and Students for a Democratic Society. And they had a few other big protests -- like blocking the exit of the parking garage of the Hart Senate office building and cutting off traffic on Independence Avenue for an hour.
The feds did not approve.
"Most of us have been arrested twice," said Paul Blasenheim, a freshman at Wesleyan, sitting in the basement of a D.C. church where the group was camping out. His peers, one of whom was wearing an "Arrest Bush" sweatshirt, nodded in agreement around him.
What would happen if she had? "Tuition removal," she said with a shrug. "Or car removal," a nearby friend added.
So goes the life of the college activist.
For the past two weeks, Heath, her friend and more than 60 other students from various colleges and high schools spent their spring break risking jail time -- and not for public drunkenness in a resort town. They were practicing a little civil disobedience in the nation's capital.
As part of the group founded at Wesleyan University called Our Spring Break, these young protesters used their mid-march vacation to bring an end to the Iraq war.
The ruckus started on March 7 when the first busload of Our Spring Breakers arrived in D.C. Together, they planned a series of "direct actions" to raise awareness leading up to March 19, the fifth anniversary of the war. Their efforts included visiting Congress members' offices to deliver "stop-loss notices" demanding that Congress stay in session until the war ends. Stop-loss orders are given to troops to extend the time they are in active duty. These orders are only legal during declared war, and the war in Iraq was never declared, said Heath, a Wesleyan freshman.
"Over 70,000 troops have been given stop-loss orders since the start of fighting in Afghanistan," she said.
That wasn't all the spring breakers did. They coordinated several small protests with other peace movement groups, including the Campus Anti-War Network and Students for a Democratic Society. And they had a few other big protests -- like blocking the exit of the parking garage of the Hart Senate office building and cutting off traffic on Independence Avenue for an hour.
The feds did not approve.
"Most of us have been arrested twice," said Paul Blasenheim, a freshman at Wesleyan, sitting in the basement of a D.C. church where the group was camping out. His peers, one of whom was wearing an "Arrest Bush" sweatshirt, nodded in agreement around him.
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