Ruth Brown

SDSU students are gathering together to speak out against the war in Iraq. They formed a new student peace group in an attempt to get their voices heard.

The primary goal of the new student peace group is to bring students together to discuss the war. Doug Martin, founder of the student peace group and junior global studies major, said they want to show students that there is nothing unpatriotic about speaking against the government.

The student peace group wants to be a meeting place for students to gather together and discuss peaceful solutions to ending conflict. They believe there is a need for action against the war and they want to assure students that it is okay to have different beliefs on war.

“The student peace group plans on being very active,” Karen Engelhart, a member of the peace group and sociology graduate student, said. “There will be many upcoming events organized.”

One of the major events in the works is an anti-war peace march set for Oct. 27. This will be the student peace group’s first big event, said Martin. They plan to have even more students involved in this protest than the first organized march, held on Sept. 14.

The Oct. 27 march will coincide with the national mobilization against the war in Iraq. The national march is going to be a peaceful demonstration in 11 different cities across the nation. There will be demonstrations in: Boston, Chicago, Jonesborough, Tenn., Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Orlando. The national mobilization’s main goal is to find peace and bring the U.S. troops home safely.

“A lot of people are under the impression that anti-war groups don’t care about the troops,” said Engelhart. “We wouldn’t be out there every day working for peace if we didn’t care about our troops. We are out there because we do care.”

As of right now, the student peace group is still in the making. Together students decided to start the group because there was such a great student turnout at the Sept. 14 march. The students that came to the march decided they want to have a group to discuss anti-war topics. They want to organize as many events as possible and involve as many SDSU students as they can.

“Anyone is welcome to join us,” said Engelhart.

Other events the student peace group will organize include movie nights. They plan on showing anti-war films to help inform students.

The peace group plans to have their first formal meeting very soon. They want to further organize the group and make an attempt to get more people involved.

The group wants to hold frequent discussion groups for students with the same beliefs on war to come together and express opinions about war, non-violent solutions and conflict.

“The student peace group really wants to let people know that war is unjust and unnecessary,” said Martin.