Have you ever had visitors over you were happy to see when they first arrived, but as the night drew on, you just wanted to politely ask them to leave without hurting their feelings? That's how we feel about the Dunn Meadow Peace Camp. On Wednesday, Sean "Steps to Freedom" Bagley told Dean of Students Richard McKaig he was packing up the eight-month protest because it wasn't living up to what he had hoped. Unfortunately, this announcement is coming seven months too late. While the Peace Camp was a wonderful idea in the beginning -- raising awareness of the ongoing fight against terrorism and U.S. aggression in foreign countries -- the campers simply wore out their welcome with the students, the University and the public. Dunn Meadow is an open forum for free speech, and the peace campers used it for its purpose well. The Peace Camp breathed fresh air into a campus that had been dormant and protest-free before Sept. 11 -- but that fresh air quickly became stale as campers began to walk away. "We're staying until this blows over … until the U.S. aggression stops," freshman David Odefey told the IDS when the Peace Camp was started Monday, Oct. 9, 2001. But as the the months went by, the "we" Odefey spoke of started to dwindle until "we" simply became just Bagley. Even Bagley admitted the camp began to fade out well before its tenure came to an end. "A bunch of people burned out really quickly," he told the IDS Wednesday. Now all that's left of the camp is two full dumpsters provided by the University and a gaping hole in the grass in front of the Indiana Memorial Union's steps that the University is footing the bill to replace. The First Amendment is an important aspect of college culture, and the campers utilized it well, but the simple fact is the Peace Camp became a nuisance. The campers should have used their time more wisely by writing their congressional representatives or protesting on the steps of the state capitol or even Washington after a two month (or less) camping vigil in Dunn Meadow. Now all that's left is a a dirt spot, a landscaping bill and the memory of a protest that turned out to be more trouble than it was worth.
yes - no - abstain
