Members of Northwestern Opposing War and Racism passed out flyers in front of Norris University Center to protest the presence of military, CIA and FBI recruiters at Tuesday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Public Interest Job and Intern Fair.
Group members said those organizations’ ideals conflict with the civil rights leader’s advocacy of non-violence.
As McCormick freshman Mykell Miller passed out flyers, the wind was so intense that a paper sign, which featured a quote from King, wrapped around Miller several times.
Other NOWAR members stood close by, jumping up and down to stay warm as they passed out flyers from noon to 2 p.m. The afternoon snowfall turned the flyers soggy.
Several feet away, Medill sophomore Sarah Levy read King’s “Beyond Vietnam” anti-violence speech protesting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war.
Group members said military recruitment practices – which they said targeted poor, often minority-based areas – made those recruiters’ presence at the fair even more inappropriate.
“It’s just really distasteful to ignore the vision, the ideals and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King by allowing these recruiters to be here,” Levy said. “Their visions are working against the visions of Dr. Martin Luther King that the job fair is supposed to be commemorating.”
NOWAR members said they want organizers to either eliminate military and intelligence agency recruiters from the job fair or to change the name of the fair so that it is not associated with King.
Marine Corps spokesperson Sgt. Kimberly Leone said the recruiters’ presence at the job fair did not challenge King’s ideals and rejected claims that military recruitment techniques are racially insensitive. She added that the military did not plan to reconsider its presence at the job fair.
“Any opportunity to put the military, the CIA or the FBI as an option at a job fair is never a conflict of interest,” Leone said.
The job fair was created in 2001 to honor King with its focus on non-profit and public sector jobs relating to education, government and public policy, said Brett Boettcher, assistant director of University Career Services.
There were 56 recruiters present, and about 360 students were expected to attend, Boettcher said.
Boettcher said career services would consider the students’ requests to change the fair’s name. But he said it was the job fair’s responsibility to expose students to a range of employment opportunities.
“All recruiters here have opportunities for students, and there are students that are interested in those opportunities,” Boettcher said. “Our job is to make those available to students, and that’s what we’re doing through this event.”
Some students, such as Weinberg sophomore Mike Greenberg, said they were glad military and intelligence agency recruiters were there.
“The recruiters have a right to be here, and students have a right to know about all of these jobs,” said Greenberg, who approached the CIA booth looking for internship opportunities.
He said even if some of the organizations abused their power in the past, “that shouldn’t prevent students from being exposed to these jobs now, 40 years later.”
But others said they agreed with NOWAR’s concerns.
“There’s no point in having the army at an event that is clearly non-violent, especially given what’s happening in Iraq,” Weinberg senior Veena Sriram said.
Reach Abha Bhattarai at [email protected].
