Stepping over a face-down body in order to check your mail is not a common occurrence at Fairfield University. However, if you passed by the mailroom last Tuesday, Jan. 28, this scenario was a reality.
As part of a “die-in” staged by Fairfield University’s anti-war group, Fairfield Students for Peace, students pretended to be dead war victims while their peers stood by handing out anti-war flyers.
“The purpose of he protest was so that students would realize that people are actually going to die if there is a war,” said Linda Davidow, ’05, an active member of the group who passed out flyers during the protest near the campus mailroom.
Others were stationed by Jazzman’s Café and Canisius Hall. The sprawled out “dead” had a sign on their bodies with captions such as “Dead U.S. Solider” or “Innocent Iraqi child.” The flyers revealed information such as the sharp contrast between the large amounts of money the government allots to the military budget, as opposed to spending on education and healthcare programs. The bodies and the information on the flyers caught the attention of the student body.
Most people took flyers, but a few students seemed angered by the protest and uttered pro-war sentiments as they walked by, according to Davidow.
Kate Poniatowski, ’05, who was handed a flyer on her way to meet friends for lunch, thought the protest was a successful endeavor.
“I think that this was a good idea because, regardless of your beliefs on the U.S.- Iraq situation, it got you thinking about what a huge deal war is, and whether or not you want to support it,” Poniatowski said.
Fairfield Students for Peace, co-founded by Emmett Kearney, ’03, and Ed Feldheim, ’03, began at a speech given by Quaker peace-activist John Humphries, who came to campus to lecture about his experiences in Iraq. Afterwards, a few people gathered to discuss starting actions on campus to oppose the Bush Administration’s advocacy of war.
“The Bush administration is pushing for this war not for the safety of the American people, but for economic, political, and power related issues,” Kearney said.
The group wants students to challenge their beliefs and start asking questions.
“The administration’s ties to the oil and military industries should make people question their motives right off the bat,” he added. “The fact that Iraq wasn’t an issue pre-911 should make people question a war.”
Fairfield Students for Peace has been active in their crusade and has grown rapidly from six members to over 80 in the course of three months. Early actions were holding on- and off-campus demonstrations, distributing flyers, and having an anti-war panel of professors on December 10, when there was national call to action of peace groups. Fifty Fairfield University students and faculty attended the national protest against war in Washington DC on Jan. 18.
Currently, they hold weekly demonstrations on the Post Road at the town green in downtown Fairfield on Tuesdays from 4:00-6:00 p.m. The group hopes to rally students to attend the anti-war rally in New York City on Feb. 15.
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