Student protesters seek to make impact
Online Exclusive
By: Alice Miller, Staff Writer
Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: City
When the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in 1791, the right to petition and protest was made official.
And more than 200 years later, students today are still gathering for petitions, adding to an already rich campus history of demonstrations and protests.
But sometimes, the impact of these protests is questionable.
"The effectiveness of a march depends on the issue," said Ferrel Guillory, the director of the UNC Program on Public Life. "Sometimes it has to do with not just one, but the accumulation of events and protests."
And many campus groups, such as UNC's Students for a Democratic Society, have overarching themes that run through all of their marches and protests.
Recently, several of SDS's events focused on the war in Iraq, which hit the five-year mark this month. Members localized the issue by protesting in front of the Army recruitment center on Franklin Street.
Both the march Wednesday and the one on March 20, 2007, were sponsored by SDS and the UNC Coalition Against the War and served not as a direct call for congressional action but more to raise awareness of the fourth and fifth anniversaries of the Iraq War, respectively.
The aim of the protests was to let their voices be heard that the war should end, though not necessarily immediately.
"Don't organize for a march, but for a campaign you are trying to win," said Salma Mirza, senior organizer of Student Action for Workers, a group that advocates for fair labor laws.
Both years, students were charged to walk out of their noon classes to march from the Pit to Franklin Street showcasing their signs, T-shirts and opinions against the war.
"We want to see change in a different way," said Ben Carroll, a sophomore member of SDS. "It's motivated by anger and hope for something different."
In a different march, SDS members tried to shut down the Army recruitment office on Franklin Street by leading a march to the location. On Nov. 15 protesters marched armed with a black coffin full of pictures of fallen soldiers from the war.
And more than 200 years later, students today are still gathering for petitions, adding to an already rich campus history of demonstrations and protests.
But sometimes, the impact of these protests is questionable.
"The effectiveness of a march depends on the issue," said Ferrel Guillory, the director of the UNC Program on Public Life. "Sometimes it has to do with not just one, but the accumulation of events and protests."
And many campus groups, such as UNC's Students for a Democratic Society, have overarching themes that run through all of their marches and protests.
Recently, several of SDS's events focused on the war in Iraq, which hit the five-year mark this month. Members localized the issue by protesting in front of the Army recruitment center on Franklin Street.
Both the march Wednesday and the one on March 20, 2007, were sponsored by SDS and the UNC Coalition Against the War and served not as a direct call for congressional action but more to raise awareness of the fourth and fifth anniversaries of the Iraq War, respectively.
The aim of the protests was to let their voices be heard that the war should end, though not necessarily immediately.
"Don't organize for a march, but for a campaign you are trying to win," said Salma Mirza, senior organizer of Student Action for Workers, a group that advocates for fair labor laws.
Both years, students were charged to walk out of their noon classes to march from the Pit to Franklin Street showcasing their signs, T-shirts and opinions against the war.
"We want to see change in a different way," said Ben Carroll, a sophomore member of SDS. "It's motivated by anger and hope for something different."
In a different march, SDS members tried to shut down the Army recruitment office on Franklin Street by leading a march to the location. On Nov. 15 protesters marched armed with a black coffin full of pictures of fallen soldiers from the war.
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