Students for Peace take message to die streets
■ In protest of the Afghanistan
invasion, University students
will rally on Seventh Avenue
By John Liebhardt
Oregon Daily Emerald
Pira Kelly is frustrated.
Kelly, a freshman majoring in
linguistics, is frustrated about the
U.S. government’s reaction to the
events of Sept. 11. “Millions of .
civilians are going to die,” she said
of the U.S.-led invasion of
Afghanistan. “This is an inappro
priate response to terrorism.”
As a member of Students for
Peace, Kelly will try to bring her
frustrations to the street today at a
3:30 p.m. rally at the EMU Am
phitheater. After meeting at the
amphitheater, protesters will grab
signs and placards and make their
way down to the federal building
at 211 E. Seventh Ave. to join oth
er community peace groups for a
candlelight vigil.
“I feel a complete sense of help
lessness. Nobody voted for this
war,” said Marc Moscato, another
member of Students for Peace.
“The only thing I can try to chal
lenge this is to persuade public
opinion — to get a lot of people in
the streets. ”
Moscato, a graduate student in
arts administration, also admits to
being a little frustrated trying to get
the word out for his group’s last
two weekly marches, which yield
ed approximately 80 and 35
marchers, respectively. The rela
tively small membership of Stu
dents for Peace makes it difficult to
publicize the marches, he said.
Harvard University’s Institute of
Politics reported that while large
numbers of students approve of
the war, the level of approval is not
as high among students as it is
with the general public. The study,
which surveyed more than 1,200
undergraduate students, was con
ducted in mid-October and found
that 68 percent of students sup
ported the use of ground troops in
Afghanistan, compared to 80 per
cent of the general public. The
study also found that 76 percent of
students and 87 percent of the gen
eral public supported war against
nations that harbor or shelter ter
rorists.
7 feel a complete sense
of helplessness. Nobody
voted forthis war.”
Marc Moscato
Students for Peace
College newspapers around the
country report fluctuating num
bers of anti-war protesters. The Pitt
News reported nearly 300 people
at the University of Pittsburgh ral
lying against the war Friday, Nov.
9. The rally also included 30 peo
ple defending government actions
in Afghanistan. The Daily Free
Press at the University of Boston
reported 150 anti-war protesters
outside the JFK Federal Building.
At the University, students and
community members have ex
pressed concern with the war,
flocking to weekly teach-ins and
staging protests.
However, Pam Alejandre, a
spokeswoman for the Eugene Po
lice Department, noted that this
war has spawned less tension and
fewer protesters than previous
conflicts. “I don’t think it’s specif
ic to Eugene, but peace marches
and rallies supporting the war are
very different from past wars,” she
said. Alejandre said the most seri
ous offenses relating to protests
happened on Nov. 9, when EPD
cited seven protesters for disorder
ly conduct — which carries a base
fine of $255 — for blocking traffic
on E. Seventh Avenue.
Although the peace movement
seems to be off to a slow start, Uni
versity Philosophy Professor
Cheyney Ryan said organized
peace movements take longer than
a few weeks to develop. Ryan
pointed out that protests of the
Vietnam War took five years to
evolve into a discernible move
ment.
“It is not like something hap
pens and the next day people will
be out in the streets,” he said.
Ryan also pointed out that after
Vietnam, the government and mili
tary learned to deter war resist
ance. He said when the draft was
ended by President Richard Nixon
in 1973, the anti-war movement
diminished because the draft had
given youth a direct, personal con
tact with the war.
Another factor, Ryan said, is that
the methods of fighting wars have
changed. He pointed out that there
is a lack of photos of flag-draped
coffins and body bags, such as
were seen in the Vietnam era.
“Since Vietnam, we have been
fighting wars mainly by bombing,”
Ryan said. “This strategy is de
signed to minimize dissent.”
John Liebhardt is the higher education editor
forthe Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be
reachedatjohnliebhardt@dailyemerald.com.
Dead Man walking’ author to speak about Life for a Life Campaign
■ In her appearance at the
McDonald Theatre, Sister Helen
Prejean will address ending
Oregon’s death penalty
By Lindsay Buchele
Oregon Daily Emerald
She’s been known to captivate au
diences — and change their minds
— with her southern charm.
The award-winning author of the
book “Dead Man Walking,” which
was adapted into a 1995 movie star
ring Susan Sarandon and Sean
Penn, Sister Helen Prejean has been
known to bring people’s guard
down. Now the woman who has
been nominated twice for the Nobel
Peace Prize and a Pulitzer Prize
brings her message about repealing
the death penalty in Oregon to the
McDonald Theatre on Saturday.
Sponsored by the Life for a Life
Campaign, Prejean’s speech will de
tail her experiences with death-row
inmates, including Matthew Pon
celet, and speak to Eugene residents
about repealing Oregon’s death
penalty.
Life for a Life began work against
the death penalty in 2000, cam
paign manager Angela Harris said.
Prejean, who is a nun in the Sisters
of St. Joseph of Medaille convent,
has worked with the group since the
beginning.
Her journey began when she was
asked to correspond with a death
row inmate at a time when she had
had no experience with death row or
the prison system. Prejean devel
oped a pen-pal relationship with
Poncelet and eventually went to visit
him through the last days of his life.
“She didn’t believe he was inno
cent,” said Pam Donegan, a Life for
a Life volunteer in Eugene. “Her
book chronicles her conflicting
emotions; eventually, she helped
him accept responsibility for what
he did and helped him prepare for
death.”
Prejean has been an advocate of
abolishing the death penalty ever
since.
“I have no doubt that we will one
day abolish the death penalty in
America,” Prejean said in a state
ment. “One day all the instruments
of death—electric chairs, gas cham
bers ad lethal-injection needles —
will be housed in museums. Let’s
begin in Oregon.”
She has also worked with Murder
Victim’s Families for Reconcilia
tion, trying to help victim’s families
not seek retaliation through the
death penalty.
Barbara Nicholls, another Eugene
volunteer with Life for a Life, said
Prejean changed the mind of Jim
Rice, a local Democrat who was
once an active advocate of the death
penalty.
“After talking to Prejean, he
changed his stance,” Nicholls said.
“She’s not what one would typi
cally expect from a nun,” Donegan
said.
She will speak at the McDonald
Theatre beginning at 7:30 p.m.
shortly after a fund-raising dinner.
A $5 donation for the speech is sug
gested.
Lindsay Buchele is the community editor tor
the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached
atlindsaybuchele@dailyemerald.com.
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THE OREGON HUMANITIES CENTER PRESENTS
Maternal Love and
Ambivalence
in the Pleistocene, the 18th Century, and Right Now
A slide lecture on the nature of motherhood and maternal instinct by primatologist
and award-winning author
Sarah Blu ffer Hrdy
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16,2001,4:00 p.m., 177 LAWRENCE HALL, UNIVERSITY' OF OREGON
This lecture is free and open to the public, and is followed by a book signing.
For information or disability accommodations, call (541) 346-3934.
The 2001-2 Luther S. and Dorothy Cecilia Cressman Lecture in the Humanities
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