Media – Oct 27 – SFSU protests

Students protest military recruiters
Measure against activity at public schools touted at SFSU
By Poh Si Teng, CORRESPONDENT
Inside Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Student activists at San Francisco State University on Wednesday demanded military recruiters be barred from campus and advocated Proposition I — a declaration opposing military recruitment in public schools, colleges and universities.
It was a solemn protest, with about 200 students crowding around Malcolm X Plaza in the damp weather, holding anti-war placards and listening to speakers hail the largely symbolic measure on the San Francisco Nov. 8 ballot.

“One might think that (Proposition I) might not have any teeth. But in the context of counter-recruitment and the anti-war movement, it means a lot,” said Ragina Johnson, 31, campaign director of College Not Combat, an anti-war organization.

Under the 1996 Solomon Amendment, schools, colleges and universities would be denied federal funding if they prohibit military recruiters from having access to students.

“The university is required by federal law to give military recruiters the same access that we give to any recruiter,” said Ellen Griffin, San Francisco State’s director of public affairs and publications.

She said San Francisco State would lose $20 million in federal funds for research and student activities if it denied recruiters on campus.

“We must and will continue to uphold federal law,” Griffin said.

Matt Gonzalez, former president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who spoke at the event, said Proposition I would show San Franciscans are against recruiters at schools. He said some East Coast institutions are already challenging the Solomon Amendment.

“There is no reason why we can’t fight it in the West Coast,” Gonzalez said.

Wednesday’s demonstration echoed a similar event in March when student protesters forced military recruiters to leave a campus job fair. During that event, recruiters were shouted off campus, and the university administration subsequently threatened students with fines.

As it turned out Wednesday, recruiters were not on campus. Students said they felt they had been misinformed about the date. The recruiters will be on campus today, but students cannot legally hold a demonstration because of notification requirements.

San Francisco State Republicans said the protest would not stop military recruitment on campus.

“This is absolutely futile,” said Rob Journey, 22, treasurer of the university’s Republicans group. “It’s not going to happen because the school needs the money.”

He added that anti-recruitment activists would have been more effective if they had developed a statewide proposition on the recruitment issue.

The Republicans group said students are old enough to decide whether they should join the military.

Some bystanders said they are disappointed with how the school’s administration is handling the situation.

“It’s one thing to be forced to allow the recruiters on campus, but it’s another to guide recruiters on campus and assist them,” said W. Gordon Kaupp, a member of the National Lawyers Guild in the Bay Area, which supports Proposition I. The guild is representing two San Francisco State student activists on probation for previous political activism.

Although Proposition I is symbolic at this stage, Carlos Villarreal, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild in the Bay Area, said its passage would strengthen and add legitimacy to the cause.

“It makes them feel like they are on the right side of the issue,” he said.

For nonpartisan election information about Proposition I and any other initiative on the upcoming ballot,
visit http://www.smartvoter.org

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