Cal U will be site of peace rally
CALIFORNIA – California University students and staff will join thousands across the nation who have protested against America’s pending war with Iraq at a peace rally Tuesday. A small group of women, dubbing themselves the Mon Valley Patriots of Peace, is planning the peace rally Tuesday from 12 to 4 p.m. in front of the Natali Student Center, in an effort to motivate Cal U students to take a stand and challenge government decisions they do not believe in.
Sharon Juli of Bethel Park said she and a group of three women, who all work at the university got concerned one day when they realized that the issue of the pending war with Iraq hasn’t seemed to ignite reaction from any of the students or student organizations on campus.
“We were concerned because there is no activity on Cal U’s campus about the pending war. Pitt had a rally last month and other schools have student organizations doing something,” Juli said. “Cal has been silent and that startled us.”
So, Juli and fellow Cal U staff, Dr. Gloria Brusoski, Dr. Pat Hartman and Lenora Angelone got together and formed the Mon Valley Patriots of Peace.
Juli said the group, which has been joined by at least four other people who are helping organize the rally, hopes to present students with information on alternatives to going to war.
“The most important goal is to raise student awareness that there are alternatives to violence,” Juli said.
Juli, who works at the university part-time but is a full-time social worker, could not estimate how many students would attend the rally, but she said the location of the rally is sure to catch students’ attention.
“I don’t know how many will come, but I know that we are in the pathway of the cafeteria, so we hope to get people to and from the noontime meal,” she said.
Juli added that the group distributed 300 flyers announcing the rally to students on campus.
She said students, who took flyers gave some feedback to the rally, but it’s still hard to tell what their thoughts are concerning the war.
“Cal U students are polite, so it’s hard to tell. Some wanted more information to share with fellow students or to take back to the dorms. A couple of students said they are for the war,” Juli said.
Juli said she is not sure why there has been such a silence on Cal U’s campus regarding the war. She said she can come up with a whole lot of possible reasons, but if she had to pinpoint one reason she would say that Cal U students seem to accept things at face value.
“Most (Cal U) students are from the Mon Valley, where there tends to be a high level of acceptance of authority. If the government says you have to do it this way, they think that’s the way it has to be done. A lot of that has to do with the amount of respect they have (toward government and authority) but that’s not always the way to be, you don’t always just accept government decisions,” said Juli
Juli said the rally will include a variety of speakers, who will not speak longer than 10 minutes, music and poetry reading.
She said there will be personal statements from people directly affected by the pending war. For example, a Cal U professor (Kurt Kercher) whose son is in the military and may be called to action will speak on how the war has affected his family.
Juli said people will also speak on such issues as the environmental impact of war on a nation and the effect of war on women.
Juli said there will also be a sign-up board for people interested in joining people across the country planning to march on Washington, D.C., on March 18. She said if enough people sign-up, they will provide a bus to get there.
Juli described herself as a pacifist. She said that and the fact that she is a grandmother of a 12-year-old boy, has made her so passionate against the war with Iraq.
“I would like to live in a society where my grandson wouldn’t have to see war, unfortunately I don’t. I guess I’m really acting out of passion to protect our children,” she said. “We try to teach children to resolve conflicts without hurting others, then we have out country showing them conflict resolution through mass destruction and loss of human life.”