Rebecca Sambol

I am writing to express my support and solidarity with Dave Airhart for his courageous act in support of peace. In the last month there have been several incidents of repression, violence, and arrests of students who have taken a stand against the war and against recruiting for that war. These incidents have occurred at George Mason University, at Holyoke Community College, at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and now at Kent State University.

The response of the administrations at all four campuses was to condone and support violence against the students who dared to engage in protest. At Holyoke Community College, the administration actually prepared for the pre-announced protest with a violent display of power. State police wearing riot gear and armed with boxes marked “gas masks” were waiting for the demonstrators when they arrived.

In all of these campus incidents, students’ constitutionally protected rights and freedoms have been violated. The assault and attack on Dave Airhart is particularly ironic, however, considering that he is a veteran of the current war. Dave risked his life and witnessed unspeakable suffering in that war.

That war, we were told, was necessary to bring democracy to the Iraqi people. It was necessary, we were told, to protect the land of the free here at home from the threat of terrorist attack: we fight ’em there so we don’t have to fight ’em here.

Dave came home and attempted to utilize those rights and freedoms, the ones we were told the war was being fought to safeguard. He attempted to exercise those rights when he hung his banner calling for peace. He attempted to exercise that freedom when he expressed his opposition to the recruitment of students for a war he said was taking the lives of innocent people.

When I heard that the attack on Dave occurred at Kent State I found it particularly disturbing. The murder of the Kent State students who were protesting the American invasion of Cambodia influenced me profoundly. The day that invasion began, April 25, 1970, I turned 13. When those students were gunned down by the national guard, I realized all at once that the role of the military was not to protect us, but to protect the powerful from us. I never forgot that.

Naively, however, I thought that attacks on students on college and university campuses would not happen again, that they were part of a bygone era. I could not imagine that Tariq Khan, an air force veteran, would be beaten and dragged from campus. I could not imagine that Charles Peterson would be pepper sprayed and barred from the campus where he earned his livelihood as well as attended classes. I certainly could not imagine that Dave Airhart would be repaid for his sacrifice and service with such utter contempt and lack of respect.

Now it is time for college and university administrations across this country to start imagining. They need to imagine that each act of repression and each violation of student rights and freedoms pushes more students forward into activism. It brought me forward. When Tariq was attacked at GMU I was just beginning to get involved in anti-war and counter-recruitment efforts. By the time I heard that Dave Airhart was yanked off the wall I had become deeply involved and committed.

Those students who have already been involved in campus actions have proclaimed that they will not shut up and they will not back down. I am deeply grateful to those students, Dave, Tariq, Charles, and all the other students who have stepped forward so courageously, providing inspiration and vision.

The student movement is growing and organizing itself very quickly. University administrators will be forced to start respecting student rights and freedoms. They will be forced to stop allowing students to be recruited on campuses to be sacrificed in a war fought not for freedom, but for lies.

In Peace and Solidarity,
Becky Sambol, MSW student, George Mason University