Campus Antiwar Network History

David A. Caputo
President
Pace University
New York City, NY
president@pace.edu

To Pace University President David A. Caputo:

It saddens me that Pace has apparently chosen to make its
institutional legacy one of censorship and repression rather than the
freedom to dissent. Brian Kelly and Lauren Giaccone, by registering
their dissent from a violent foreign policy, are furthering their own
education in the truest sense of the word. In holding accountable
those who would use this country’s military and economic power to
extend suffering throughout the world, they are also raising the
demand for a more just world. No university should see that as
something to censor or destroy.

Like the generation before us, students today are learning that when
we stand up to the war machine, we quickly run up against the limits
of our free speech. But we are also learning that when we stand
together, we can defend our own rights and win. Pace University will
join the ranks of UC-Berkeley, Seattle Central Community College, City
College New York, San Francisco State University, George Mason
University, Holyoke Community College, Kent State University, Hampton
University, UW-Madison, and others — schools where students have
compelled their administrations to back off threats to our rights. We
have a movement behind us — of students, veterans, teachers, parents,
and community members, in all combinations. We will defend Lauren and
Brian’s protest. And we will not stop until their message rejecting
war and violence becomes a reality.

Elizabeth Wrigley-Field
Coordinating Committee, Campus Antiwar Network
Student, New York University