Vermont Students Protest War in Iraq, Demand 'Books, Not Bombs'

Author: Greg Duggan

With the growing possibility of U.S. action in Iraq, debate over a possible war has been intensifying around the world. Last Wednesday, hundreds of high schools and colleges across the country staged a protest called "Books, Not Bombs" to express opposition to military action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The student walkout also called for increased education funding and an end to tuition hikes at state colleges and universities, calling them a "war tax." The National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC), a group formed after the Sept. 11 attacks, organized the nationwide protest.
The NYSPC estimates that 400 to 500 high school and college campuses took part in the protest, with anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 students participating. A handful of Vermont high schools coordinated activities to show their own support for "Books, Not Bombs."
While almost all schools held a walkout, each school also organized its own distinct demonstration. In Montpelier, students walked to the State House, where protesters spoke with Gov. James Douglas '72 about federal policy. Springfield High School organizers set up tables displaying anti-war photos and lyrics, addressed a letter to President George W. Bush that students could sign and polled students on their feelings about a war.
At Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, protesters marched out of class to the town's main intersection to demonstrate. Organizers at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester placed a microphone in the gym, allowing students to speak at will to express their opinions.
In Addison County, students at both Mount Abe High School in Bristol and Middlebury Union High School also participated in the day's protests. At Middlebury Union, a school of about 750, 150 to 250 students walked out of class. They then met and spoke in the cafeteria for approximately half an hour before returning to their normal schedules.
At Mount Abe, nearly 300 of the 906 students in grades seven to 12 left their classes at 11 a.m. and walked to the Town Green. They assembled themselves in the form of a giant peace sign, and then for the next two hours listened to speakers and singers advocate peace. Elizabeth Ready, the state auditor, attended the event, as did a representative from the Peace and Justice Center in Burlington. After the protest, the students returned to school.
Teachers and administrators from the various schools supervised the events, not to participate but simply to ensure that the protests went peacefully and without incident.
None of the students were available for comment, but Mount Abe Principal Paulette Bogan said that students planned the entire event. She knew they had been in contact with an outside organization, which was probably the NYSPC, before approaching Bogan the previous week. The principal described the event as one to raise awareness of the issue and the possibility of war.
Bogan said "I thought the students were well organized. I compliment them on their orderliness."
Before the organized protest, students had placed signs around the school calling for peace. Some students with opposing views reacted by putting up their own signs or taking down the peace signs.
The school plans to hold a forum in April "where students will be able to voice their opinions," Bogan said.
The day's protest united students in Vermont and across the country to create a youthful voice speaking out against, as the NYSPC press release described it, "the Bush administration's unilateral, 'pre-emptive strike' policy toward Iraq." Other demonstrations took place worldwide in France, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Spain, Britain, Bulgaria and Greece.