Northwestern students may have been in the middle of finals week when the United States began military action in Iraq — but that didn’t stop war protesters, professors and student government leaders from making their voices heard.
As the first bombs fell over the Iraqi desert, about 25 students affiliated with Northwestern Opposing War and Racism joined 5,000 other demonstrators at a March 20 daytime rally at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago.
But when the march veered off course onto Lakeshore Drive, NU students were confronted by police barricades and the prospect of being arrested, said Naureen Shah, a member of Peace Project and NOWAR.
“I had never seen that many policemen in my entire life,” said Shah, a Medill junior. “I saw people in front of me being arrested. We were all pretty frightened.”
The students were detained for about three hours before they were able to leave, but Chicago police arrested more than 500 other protesters that night, Shah said.
Noora Lori, a Weinberg sophomore from Bahrain, was concerned her student visa would be in jeopardy if she was arrested at the rally. Lori said group members became confused about what areas were off limits during the protest.
“I feel strongly about the war and putting my voice out, but not if I’m doing something illegal,” Lori said. “I didn’t realize how close I was to going to jail. Thinking about the consequences of being arrested is scary.”
Still, NOWAR and other activist groups are determined to continue participating in protests and holding on-campus events discussing the war.
On March 21, NOWAR members held a campuswide rally at The Rock and leaders said more events are in the works for the coming weeks.
Other NU students said they noticed the war’s impact by spending their Spring Breaks in foreign locales where a strong anti-American sentiment was evident.
Communication junior Tamara Kagel witnessed protests in Madrid and Seville, Spain.
“I didn’t feel endangered, but I felt a little more embarrassed about my patriotism,” said Kagel, Associated Student Govenment’s academic vice president. “It made it hard for me to be proud of my nationality.”
Jonathan Piccirillo, who traveled with a friend to France and Switzerland, said he was asked to explain the Bush administration’s rationale for war.
“A lot of people asked us straight out what we thought of the war,” said Piccirillo, a Communication sophomore. “They feel that everyone in the United States is for the war and for getting oil. It’s tough to explain that there are a huge amount of people against it.”
NU’s International Office made efforts to ensure that students traveling to their home countries for the break would be able to return to campus, said Ravi Shankar, the office’s director. As of Monday afternoon, he had heard of no students who were having difficulty re-entering the country.
“We have not heard any horror stories,” Shankar said.
For international students who did not want to travel overseas, NU opened temporary housing at the Lakeshore Center on the Chicago Campus.
Three international students paid $24 per night to stay in the single rooms, said Mark D’Arienzo, assistant director for university housing. The rooms have been open for international students for the past few years.
ASG’s South Mid-Quads Hall Sen. Jonathan Love said other senators forwarded information to dorm representatives so all students would be aware of the opportunity to stay in Chicago over the break.
“It occurred to me that with a war (coming), travel plans could be interrupted or staying in a hotel may be too expensive,” said Love, a Medill freshman.
Before the war officially started, a coalition of student groups sponsored a teach-in featuring 25 professors from 11 different departments. About 600 students attended the event, in which professors advocated pushing for a peaceful solution to the conflict.
History Prof. Michael Sherry spoke about the lack of justification for attacking Iraq.
“Iraq is in America’s crosshairs not because it’s monstrously threatening, but because it’s weak,” Sherry said. “Iraq is where the U.S. can exercise power and accumulate it with relative ease.”
History Prof. Bill Heyck told the crowd that Iraq is not a strong enough threat to justify a pre-emptive war.
“I am not a pacifist. I do think there are good reasons to go to war,” he said. “This is not one of them.”
