NO taxpayer money should be going to this school or these students. They are not fit to be Americans, much less subsidized by the rest of us. I would die of shame if I saw a photo of my son or daughter hounding military personel.
Anti-war group targets recruiters Effort launched after campus clash By JAKE ELLISON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A mob of Seattle Central Community College students chased military recruiters off campus last month, after a tense confrontation. Now a student anti-war group is stepping up efforts to keep them out for good.
Students Against War has launched a petition drive aimed at persuading administrators to order a halt to on-campus military recruiting.
The group points to a November ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Philadelphia-based court held that a college opposed to the policy barring gays and lesbians in the armed forces has a First Amendment right to protest by blocking access to military recruiters.
Central students opposed to the war in Iraq have been fighting the presence of military recruiters all year. The group organized a protest to coincide with President Bush's inauguration Jan. 20, but it started sooner than scheduled when several hundred students surrounded two Army recruiters.
The students hurled insults and water bottles, according to witnesses, forcing the recruiters to flee under the protection of campus security officers. There were no reports of injuries.
Administrators initially threatened to take disciplinary action against Students Against War, which denied any responsibility for the incident.
Yesterday, however, officials backed off their demand that the group apologize to the recruiters or be stripped of their affiliation with the college.
Central President Mildred Ollee said she dropped the ultimatum after discovering that members of other student groups were involved in the confrontation.
"I'm not prepared to go on a witch hunt," she said. "We did the best we could do in this, and I believe the students have learned something and we're going to move forward."
Leaders of the anti-war group told a small crowd of students yesterday that they intend to press for the military recruiting ban.
"We do not want the military in our schools asking our friends and family to fight for a war that is wrong," Nicole Thomas said. "We want recruiters out of our schools."
The incident was captured in a newspaper photograph that has made its way into conservative Web blogs. That spurred a wave of e-mails to Central administrators denouncing the conduct of the students.
One of the recruiters involved in the confrontation, Sgt. Jeffrey Due, said he was stunned how quickly things got out of hand. "I was in outright shock that they were protesting me," he said.
Due had been warned about the student walk-out demonstration, but said he didn't expect that kind of trouble. "They were all going by making off-hand comments and saying 'no war.' We just waved at them," Due said. "Five minutes later, there was just a mob of 500 people surrounding the table."
Due said he was hit in the head with newspapers, and water bottles whizzed by, pounding the vending machine and wall behind him.
The flap has energized Central's anti-war effort, sparking the petition drive. The group's goal is to get recruiters off campus "by legal means," said spokesman Gerald Lisi.
He argued that the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is in conflict with the college's code barring discrimination on campus. While petitions circulate, the group is consulting with attorneys and researching the issue.
But Ollee pointed to a government rule that allows federal money to be withheld from any college that refuses to give military recruiters access to students and student-contact information.
"I am under the law and will comply with the law as long as it is the law," she said.
P-I reporter Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8346 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com