Campus groups step up student reaction to war

Student groups on all sides of the debate about the war on Iraq plan to step up campus action this week.\nCollege Republicans will be participating in National Support Our Troops Day today by handing out yellow ribbons in front of Ballantine Hall, signifying a solidarity with the troops, CR President Angel Rivera said.\nOn Thursday, the Coalition to Oppose the War in Iraq will be sponsoring another demonstration in protest of the war at 11:45 a.m. in Dunn Meadow.\nBefore spring break, members of COWI were still hoping for a peaceful solution between the United States and Iraq. But as students were returning to campus, people began to recognize a change of tone in the anti-war movement. \nCOWI senior member Lauren Taylor said she feels a sense of hopelessness and resignation on campus. Taylor said attendance at their weekly meetings has decreased slightly due to the disappointment of some members who wish they could have prevented the war from happening. Taylor also attributes the changes on campus to two diverging trends among the national anti-war movement. \n"The start of the war changed the tone of the opposition to a significant extent," she said. "There seems to be a movement either towards more respectful, moderate protests or more access to civil disobedience."\nAnother senior member of COWI James Bourke said he believes membership has remained relatively stable and said campus involvement needs to increase.\nTaylor said though COWI and other protests could not prevent a U.S. war with Iraq, they are still active in their anti-war stance and a long-term anti-war movement will be the most effective.\n"Whether it's pending or happening, we can always end the war earlier," she said.\nEvents director for the College Republicans Derek Molter said while there may not be a group whose sole purpose and agenda is supporting the war, he believes many groups on campus support it nonetheless.\nMolter said the CRs have been very vocal and active on campus in expressing the conservative position regarding the war in Iraq by actively supporting U.S. troops and participating in panel discussions.\nTaylor said a key aspect in the anti-war movement now is to be vigilant about government policies. She said she believes the media needs to pay more attention to civilian casualties in Iraq, the types of weapons being used, and human rights violations. \n"The idea is to make people pressure the U.S. government to end this as quickly as possible and make it difficult for such a war to happen again," she said. \nMolter said he feels the media coverage is a question of taste, not bias.\n"Some things are so gruesome that it is in bad taste to display pictures of, but that is not a 'pro-American' position," he said. "I wonder if COWI feels it was anti-American for the media not to show more pictures of corpses from Sept. 11."\nSenior Deema Dabis said she feels people walk around campus like nothing is going on. \n"I think we need more visible, in-your-face action," Dabis said. \nTaylor said she believes COWI's voice has been heard on campus to a limited extent because certain departments are more aware of the anti-war movement than others.\n"I think its hard to do, but I would like to reach all parts of campus," she said, "though the debate has reached all parts of campus, whether or not it's us who articulates the opposing side."\nTaylor said COWI is pushing for an updated IU Student Association resolution now that the war has begun. The IUSA Congress voted against a previous resolution presented by COWI on March 10. Bourke said members of COWI have asked certain IUSA representatives why they voted no to the previous resolution. \n"We are hoping to create a more focused resolution while staying sensitive to the political atmosphere at IU," he said.\nRivera said he believes COWI attempted to fool our student government with their resolution and IUSA should be tending to the students' needs, not the political agendas of a few. Molter said he thinks IUSA's decision to vote it down was appropriate and necessary.\n"I do not think that COWI was able to demonstrate that an anti-war stance was the position of the majority of students," Molter said. "IUSA should of course not pass resolutions that purport to be the position of the student body when that is in fact not the case"