The Daily Orange

Media Credit: Ben Addonizio

Holding umbrellas and protest signs, 17 people stood on the steps of Hendricks Chapel to mark the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War. It was raining, but they weren't going to let weather stop their protest.

"You guys picked a great day," a student said to the group while pointing to the sky and walking past.

"We didn't pick it," said Marshall Henry, one the organizers of the protest, in response. "George Bush picked it."

The protestors, mostly students with a few faculty members mixed in, stood and chanted on the quad Wednesday at 2 p.m. "to show that SU students aren't apathetic about Iraq and that we want a change in policy," said senior Henry.

Anti-war chants like, "We don't want your oil war," and other chants against President George W. Bush, echoed off the buildings surrounding the quad.

Some people stopped briefly to see what they were chanting about. Others blatantly ignored them. A few passersby wandered toward the group, but most just looked at the signs held in the air without making eye contact with those standing on the steps.

The signs read, "War is a failure of government," "Students for Peace" and "Bong hits for Peace."

Henry and other protestors wanted to engage the people walking through the quad. Members of the protest handed out miniature plastic army men, each with a fact about the war.

The number of participants fluctuated, peaking at 17, throughout the hour-long protest, but they continuously held signs, chanted and banged on buckets.

Junior Emily Elkin, one of the protestors, said "The turnout was a little small but we don't need a big group of people. A small group of devoted people works. We are here to fight apathy as well as war."

Sophomore broadcast journalism major Mariel Fiedler, another protestor, agreed with Elkin.

"We are coming together as a group of student activists," she said. "We are here to protest the war, which has been going on too long and at this point, we are taking a stand."

Troops need to leave Iraq, a new administration needs to be put into place and there needs to be a non-military solution to relations in the Middle East, Henry said.

Across town

Carmen Crafts laid down in front of the steps at Hendricks Chapel, dressed from head to toe in army print with a sign around her neck saying, "Bring home my boyfriend." He is serving in Iraq.

Continued...

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