2008 Woodie Awards
Students protest
Andrew Curley
Issue date: 10/20/04 Section: News
Silently marching behind a large blue banner that read "Suffolk Peace March," a diverse group of Suffolk faculty and students demonstrated Oct. 13 against the United States' continued occupation of Iraq. As part of the broader Boston-area based Inter-University Coalition for a Humane Foreign Policy, the group of 13 demonstrators assembled at noon in front of the Donahue Building.
Marching for nearly 30 minutes on a route that took them from Temple Street, past Ashburton Place, the Sawyer building and the Law School's Sargent Hall, the protesters held signs on which the names of US soldiers killed in Iraq were written under large, crudely crafted peace symbols.
"Many of us are frustrated because we want to make an impact [on the status of the Iraq Occupation] but don't know what to do," Paul R. Korn, a Suffolk University councilor and marcher said about the purpose of the protest. "Many of us have memories of the effects of taking a stand [during the Vietnam War] and many of us did it the same way, quietly, spiritually, respectfully," he said
Martha Richmond, a Suffolk chemistry professor and organizer of the march, said she learned about similar silent protests held on campuses throughout the area from an e-mail she received referring to the Inter-University Coalition for Humane Foreign Policy, an organization encompassing groups from Harvard, Boston University and Boston College.
The loosely organized coalition silently marches every Wednesday at noon on their respective campuses to demonstrate their opposition to the United States' ongoing role in Iraq, as well as to highlight the increasing number of Iraqi civilians and US soldiers killed from the war and the following occupation.
Starting at Harvard in response to the reported use of torture at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the marches have continued to proliferate across Boston-area campuses, according to Harvard professor Steve Bloomfield, the first marchs' founder and continued organizer.