Bruins recollect memories of walkout

The Royce Hall bells chiming for noon today will not signify
anything of particular importance. It will be just another Friday,
with many students in a rush to gain some extra time on their
weekend and others not on campus at all. Things will be largely
uneventful.

One year ago (plus one day, actually, because of the leap year),
the campus atmosphere was anything but mundane. Compared to the
sparse humdrum of students on campus today, March 5, 2003 was
probably the loudest day on campus last year.

Students were cutting class, but not to get to the beach or to
steal a three-day weekend. They were walking out of class to
demonstrate against the United States’ pending military
invasion of Iraq, which would occur just over two weeks later.

The campuswide “walkout,” as it became known, was a
large-scale organized movement by students, faculty and staff as
part of a bigger worldwide effort that day to protest war in
Iraq.

Now after a year, the world has a vastly different perspective
on the context in which the United States committed itself to
invading and subsequently occupying Iraq. The search for weapons of
mass destruction reportedly possessed by deposed Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein have yet to turn up. U.S. military casualties have
long since passed the 500 mark.

There have been bright spots, most notably the capture of
Hussein in December. But there is still doubt surrounding the exact
role the United States is playing in rebuilding Iraq, as American
soldiers are killed by insurgents on a regular basis, and as
prospects of an international coalition monitoring the situation
get dimmer.

As one of the more than 1,000 students who marched, chanted,
yelled ““ or just walked ““ Vicente Corrales said the
United States should not impose its will on other sovereign
countries.

“I’m against any U.S. involvement in other
countries,” said Corrales, a fourth-year economics and
international development studies student. “It’s not
the United States’ right to go in and oppose what we think is
not right just because we think it is not right.”

And though the vast majority of participants during the March 5
demonstration rallied against military action, the day had its fair
share of counter-demonstrators.

Chris Riha, a fourth-year economics student and current
executive director of the Bruin Republicans, sat in the balconies
of the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center during the
walkout. Intermittently, he actually walked along the front lines
of the wave of people holding up a banner protesting the
protesters.

That banner was reportedly torn up by other students sometime
later in the demonstration.

“All these people calling for non-violence couldn’t
keep themselves under control,” he said, adding that he
showed up to the walkout to provide what he called a
“counter-voice.”

“Saddam was a threat that should have been taken care of
10 years ago,” Riha said. “I still think it was a
legitimate war.”

As for the issue surrounding weapons of mass destruction, he
said the fact that weapons haven’t been found isn’t too
important because Hussein was removed from power.

On another side of the situation were professors who were faced
with the dilemma of conducting class knowing that students would be
walking out to demonstrate. Reactions to the action, which was
advertised well in advance, ranged from implicit approval to
admonition and direct participation.

Scott Bartchy, a professor of history and director of the Center
for the Study of Religion, was teaching a course that lasted
through the noon walkout time. He estimated that about 10 percent
of his class ““ about 30-40 students ““ walked out, and
“made a lot of noise” as they left.

“It was disruptive in the sense that it looked like more
people were more interested in making a scene than standing up for
the issues,” he said.

He initially criticized the students for not positioning
themselves on an aisle to make their exit less disruptive, but
added that after meeting with his class in the days following the
walkout, that sentiment waned.

Bartchy also threw in his two cents about the explanation the
Bush Administration gave to the public for going to war.

“I thought we were being lied to at the time,” he
said. “I was at the time very skeptical of the weapons of
mass destruction.”

But overall, student sentiment about the war and throughout the
demonstration fell somewhere in between the arguments of Riha and
those of Corrales and Bartchy.

Third-year cognitive science student Matt Guybert didn’t
walk out of class, saying he didn’t feel strong enough about
the issue and opted to study important course material. He said he
supported students’ right to protest, but didn’t fully
agree with them on the Iraq situation.

“I’m glad Saddam’s out of power. Looking back
at it, I don’t think (the war) was that bad of an
idea,” he said.

The political middle ground on the Iraq issue ““ marked by
uncertainty about U.S. military presence in the region, exacerbated
by frequent reports of soldier casualties, but supportive of the
regime change ““ has been staked by many students.

“In the long run (the war) might have been necessary, but
it wasn’t a good enough reason for me,” said sixth-year
microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student Carlos
Martinez, with the “reason” referring to the weapons
claims.

On Martinez’s leaning toward participating in an future
walkout: “Definitely.”

For many, the walkout afforded a guilt-free opportunity to leave
class.

When asked if she would participate in another walkout,
third-year psychology and environmental studies student Blossom
Kallumkal said “probably.”

“It depends on the class I’d have to miss,”
she said with a laugh.

With reports from Richard Clough and Charles Proctor, Bruin
senior staff.