War protesters a minority among SMU students
We are against the war, but we are the minority on the SMUcampus.
It is not a lack of information or the missing discussions inthe classroom that keeps students from protesting against the war.It is the missing interest in international affairs as well as theself-centered student involvement in campus activities.
Most students do not take the time to think about theconsequences of the war on Iraq either because they are too busywith their classes to raise their voices or because they have notformed an opinion yet on how they feel about their country going towar. Even though one would think the issue about going to war hasbeen urgent for long enough and students should be able to expresstheir feelings, students fail to express their opinions inpublic.
My friends and I attended the Peace Forum last week and made acouple of new connections with students who have joined groupsagainst the war on Iraq. The small number of students that areinterested in organizing events for peace shows how few studentsraise their voices against war.
One response that I tried to get students involved in was anAnti-War Walk in downtown Dallas. “I’m not sure if I’m interestedin getting involved with it,” marketing and corporatecommunications major Sheila Steidel said. The students fightingagainst the war struggle in slow movements against the rest of theSMU community, which either has a neutral interest or makes itdifficult for opinions to be heard and understood.
“I tried to hang up flyers all over campus that campaignedagainst the war on Iraq saying, ‘Don’t bomb Iraq’, and while I washanging them up a student came right after me and ripped one down”sophomore Katie Lahey said.
“It is extremely difficult to organize anything that goesagainst the stereotypical ideals of the SMU community,” sophomorepublic policy major Jackie Fortin said. “Those of us in the sameboat on an issue do what we can to try to be heard, but it’s veryfrustrating.”
Meeting people that try to fight against the war and joiningtheir peace discussions taught me how difficult it is at SMU tofind students with the same interest. Standing up for peace at SMUis equated with giving up your homeland support and going againstthe conventional traditions that keep a certain image in thecommunity.
Comments from the SMU student body accusing us for being”homeland traitors” have also been frustrating reactions against usraising our longings for peace.
Questioning the corrupted news on television that we areinfluenced by every day trying to push us in the direction of warwithout any alternatives is considered as not trusting yourhomeland and its foreign decisions. Therefore, most students,rather than go against the rest of the SMU student body, do notexpress their opinions.
Especially now, as the elections for Student Senate are rightaround the corner, candidates try everything to win as many votesas possible while refusing to go against the generalized values ofthe SMU community. Therefore, they will not step out to questionconventions.
