Memo to:<\/p>\n
Dr. Bennie McMorris,
\nVice President for Student Affairs
\n757-727-5264
\nbennie.mcmorris@hamptonu.edu<\/p>\n
Woodson Hopewell,
\nDean of Men
\nwoodson.hopewell@hamptonu.edu
\n757-727-5303<\/p>\n
Jewel Long,
\nDean of Women
\njewel.long@hamptonu.edu
\n757-727-5486<\/p>\n
From: Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, San Francisco, CA
\nwww.bauaw.org<\/p>\n
Subject: Disciplinary action against protesting students.<\/p>\n
Dear School Administrators,<\/p>\n
Schools do not have the right to prohibit constitutional rights. Nor do they
\nhave the right to punish students who exercise them. We, the American
\npeople, are in a dire situation in the world today because the leaders of
\nour country chose to disregard constitutional, international and
\nhumanitarian law by preemptively attacking an unarmed country in order to
\nfurther certain financial windfalls, i.e., oil profits for American
\nbig-business interests.<\/p>\n
Our government has been caught in one lie after the other. The truth is
\nirrefutable, there were no WMD’s in Iraq and Iraq had nothing to do with
\n9\/11 yet our government has killed tens of thousands of Iraqi people and
\nover 2,000 of our own troops, not to mention the reintroduction of the
\nterror, destruction and devastation of war into the world–including the
\npractice of the torture of prisoners. This government has used nuclear
\n(depleted uranium) and chemical (white phosphorous) weapons against
\ncivilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
These students should be honored for their protest! The whole school and the
\nadministration should have been out there to back them. You, as
\nadministrators–while you may not have the power alone to stop our
\ngovernment from continuing and renewing these crimes and hunting for cannon
\nfodder at our schools–do have the power, right and the obligation to
\nprotest them.<\/p>\n
So whose side should you be on?<\/p>\n
I am so sick and tired of school administrations that cry that they have no
\ncontrol over “no child left behind” or any power over military recruiting on
\ncollege campuses because they would loose government funds, but who then try
\npunish to the hilt students who protest this financial hold on our
\nconstitutional rights. You can’t, on the one hand feign powerlessness over
\ngovernment funding, and then, on the other hand, prohibit protest over these
\nunjust and unconstitutional laws that tie education to military recruitment.<\/p>\n
The American people are opposed to this war. We were lied to, hoodwinked and
\nblatantly defrauded by this government. Student protests should become
\nschool-wide protests. There is no law that says that school administrators
\ncan’t protest the war and the military presence at our schools. There is no
\nlaw that says that you, the school administrators, can’t stand on the side
\nof students who protest these unconstitutional laws.<\/p>\n
The world is watching the way that the leaders of our places of higher
\nlearning handle the rights and liberties of students, teachers and school
\nadministrators who protest these illegal and immoral government actions.<\/p>\n
In the context of these illegal laws and the illegal and immoral character
\nof the war and all that lead up to the war, it would seem to me, that school
\nadministrations, from kindergarten on up, should be helping to organize such
\nprotests on a school-wide and nation-wide basis.<\/p>\n
Education should not be tied to corrupt government administrations but
\nshould be independent of them. Doing the right thing is the responsibility
\nof all adults–administrators, teachers and students alike.<\/p>\n
Reward these students for their courage! Do not attempt to break their
\nresolve! They are right, and your attempt to punish them is dead wrong!<\/p>\n
Join the fight to rid our educational system of military predators. Join the
\nprotest of this war so that it can’t happen again. Join the demand to
\nimmediately stop the war and bring the troops home now. Honor these students
\nfor their courage, don’t punish them. Honor our troops by saving them from
\nthis nightmare that is the War on Iraq and bring them home right now before
\nanother person is killed or wounded.<\/p>\n
The whole world is watching how you handle these legitimate protests and
\nwhose side you declare yourself to be on.<\/p>\n
We have a right to school administrations that are independent of our
\ngovernment and who are more responsive to the will of the majority–the
\nmajority of American citizens and the majority of the school community–that
\nsays stop the war now, get the military out of our schools and spend our tax
\ndollars on human needs–like the needs of the victims of Katrina–instead of
\nwar.<\/p>\n
After all, it is up to us, the people of the United States, to reign in our
\ngovernment when it is guilty of such murderous crimes. It is not your duty
\nas administrators to punish students who protest these crimes.<\/p>\n
We demand that you cease and desist in any punishment of these courageous
\nstudents and, instead, find ways to help them reach their goal.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, San Francisco, CA
\nwww.bauaw.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memo to: Dr. Bennie McMorris, Vice President for Student Affairs 757-727-5264 bennie.mcmorris@hamptonu.edu Woodson Hopewell, Dean of Men woodson.hopewell@hamptonu.edu 757-727-5303 Jewel Long, Dean of Women jewel.long@hamptonu.edu 757-727-5486 From: Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, San Francisco, CA www.bauaw.org Subject: Disciplinary action against protesting students. Dear School Administrators, Schools do not have the right to prohibit… Continue reading Bonnie Weinstein<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-109","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}