Bonnie Weinstein letter
Please sign the open letter on-line
TO: President Robert Corrigan, San Francisco State University
(415) 338-1381
corrigan@sfsu.edu
FROM: Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, www.bauaw.org
(415) 824-8730
Dear President Robert Corrigan,
As you well know, through the No Child Left Behind Act, which will be up before Congress again in 2007, the schools–that is, the students–are being held hostage by the U.S. Military for recruitment purposes. They must either subject themselves to the lies and false promises made by the military or watch their school close or drastically have to cut classes and programs in all areas because of the loss of federal funds that would result if the school didn’t comply to this act.
The voters of San Francisco voted to stop the war in Iraq and to bring our troops home now in November of 2005. They voted to get the military out of our schools in November of this year. And, in the San Francisco Unified School District, 95 percent of parents signed the district’s Opt-Out form making it clear that they don’t want the military in contact with their children.
The least that all school administrations could do is actively fight the No Child Left Behind Act and stand in full support of all those who protest the militarization of our schools and the ongoing presence of the military whenever they show up.
It should be the policy of the schools to welcome these protests, facilitate them and stand in support of the will of the majority of San Francisco voters in opposing their presence in our schools.
Your suspension of the ten students who took part in a peaceful protest against the recruiters–recruiters who, by the way, have a two-billion-dollar advertising budget to work with in their back pocket–is unconscionable and goes against the democratic expression of the will of the people of San Francisco.
The world is watching what you do. Reinstate these students immediately with no repercussions and join the fight against the atrocities our government is carrying out against the whole world!
It is time for us to take a stand against this assault on our right to protest the military at our schools. Further, all the school administrations should take a stand against the war, against military recruitment in the schools and stand in favor of using the trillion-dollar U.S. Military budget for human needs such as education, housing, healthcare, etc. instead of a war that enriches the wealthy elite while their children are exempt from military harassment and rarely serve in the military–just like our President.
There is no stopping this movement because it is supported by the people.
Which side are you going to stand on?
Reinstate the 10 with no repercussions!
Sincerely,
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, www.bauaw.org