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SIUC students and employees marched, chanted and spoke against the Iraq War Tuesday in a protest that marked the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. invasion.
At noon, a group of about 80 gathered near the steps to Parkinson Hall where speakers criticized government officials and called for students to organize in opposition against the ongoing conflict.
Fliers for Tuesday's protest, organized by the Student Environmental Center and Students for Peace and Democracy, called for students to walk out of class at 11:45 a.m.
Austin Lea, a senior from Minooka studying cinematography, said he was the only student to walk out of his anthropology class. The action, he said, was a sign of his opposition to U.S. foreign policy.
"Education is important, but there are things more important that need to be taken care of right now," he said.
In her speech on the steps of Parkinson, Kandace Vallejo spoke against the billions of dollars that are spent on the war each year.
"While the war wages abroad, we are being forced to fight one domestically," said Vallejo, a junior from Florida studying history. "I'm here because I've had enough."
Government officials lied to the American people and the mainstream media failed in its pre-war reporting, said history professor Robbie Lieberman in her speech outside Parkinson.
"If the media isn't telling you what the war is based on, it's hard to make decisions," she said.
Lieberman said it is important to voice opposition.
"All we can do here locally is try to keep our own university from being complicit," she said.
To date, more than 3,200 American soldiers have died in the war, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Since Saturday, hundreds of communities across the nation have staged anti-war demonstrations. Police have arrested more than 100 protestors, according to the Associated Press.
After the speeches, a group of about 40 marched to the Air Force ROTC building on South Normal Avenue. The protestors held anti-war signs and chanted "1-2-3-4, we don't want no dirty war."
Katie Lenza, who helped organize the protest, said she didn't plan the march on the ROTC building and didn't feel the action was appropriate.
"I feel that the students that are in ROTC have nothing to do with the war that is going on in Iraq right now," she said. "They don't have any control over it."
After picketing the ROTC building, protestors marched to the recruiting offices for the Army, Navy and Marines on Illinois Avenue and then back to Parkinson.
Not everyone outside Parkinson Hall was there to protest the war.
David Hutson, a senior from Texas studying electrical engineering, said he supports U.S. policy in Iraq and he was at the demonstration to hear other points of view.
"I'm here partially for entertainment," he said.
Hutson, who said he went to Iraq while serving in the U.S. Air Force in the 1990s, said Saddam Hussein was a vicious dictator who needed to be overthrown.
War is a necessary evil, he said.
"You're always going to have countries that are going to disagree," he said. "You're always going to have leadership in countries who are going to do really bad and nasty things."
nirvjec@siu.edu 536-3311 ext. 259
