If you have seen people passing out handbills around the College Avenue campus lately, there is a good chance they are doing it for the upcoming student walk-out against the war.
"We are demonstrating what can happen when we bring a thousand people together," said Tent State University Rep. Erik Straub, a Rutgers College junior.
A coalition of students, made up of about 10 organizations, met Monday in the first mass meeting scheduled to plan how to get the word out for the March 27 walk-out.
The meeting, held in the Graduate Student Lounge on the College Avenue campus, began with a presentation of slides from last year's walk-out.
The collage of clips of students and a motivational speaker marching to the tune of Michael Franti's "Light Up Ya Lighter" brought back memories for some listeners at the meeting and showed others what the walk-out is all about.
"We are showing that ending [the Iraq War] is important enough to us that we are willing to interrupt our daily routines," Straub said. "Classes get missed, people call in sick to work all the time. We are showing people that we are not going to sit back and take this war, and we can stop this war by physically walking out."
Everyone at the gathering introduced themselves as either members of the student body unaffiliated with the coalition or as members of the walk-out coalition, which includes groups like the Latino Student Council, Tent State, RU Choice, the Arabic Cultural Club, Radigals and the Human Rights House.
Others represented groups unaffiliated with the University, such as the Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War and Iraq Veterans Against the War. Three members from RU Democrats also attended.
Rutgers Against the War Rep. Ian Chinich expressed his concern over the University's alleged monetary contribution to the war effort.
"People also argue that our school is not involved in the war effort, but that's false," he said. "Our university, through the endowment, is invested in several military contractors in order to make back a 5 percent return."
Chinich said the University is sponsoring homeland security research as well.
"We are not only taking a stance against the war, but a stance against our university's complicity with it," he said.
Specific details about the walk-out are being kept quiet for the time being, but the plan is to gather at the Vietnam War Memorial in the Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus the day of the walk-out.
The coalition came up with many diverse ideas for the walk-out, from painting banners and having what they called a civil disobedience marching band to mass text messaging to get the word out.
There are also plans in the works to search for bands and hip-hop and spoken word artists with a social conscience to play music the day of the walk-out.
Other members suggested getting political activists to come to the event to speak out against the war.
RAW President Suzan Sanal, a Douglass College junior, said the coalition's walk-out on the anniversary of the Iraq War last year was the biggest on the East Coast and the second largest in the nation.
"If you join this walk-out you are saying, even if it's just for one day, I am going to disrupt my life, whether it's work, school or whatever else you are doing to bring an end to this war," said Human Rights House resident, Sumia Ibrahim, a Rutgers College senior.
