By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
On March 19, Princeton High School sophomore Aislinn Bauer will walk out of her seventh-period U.S. history class — where she’s been learning about World War II — to talk about another war.
To mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by a U.S.-led military coalition, students at the school are planning a “walkout” to show their opposition to the war.
The protest is being organized by members of the New Jersey Students for Peace, an affiliate of the Coalition for Peace Action that has held the event in years past. Aislinn is one of the group’s co-leaders.
”We just want to show the rest of the school and the community as a whole that as high school students, we do have opinions about what’s happening in our world and we do want things done to stop what’s happening in Iraq right now,” said Aislinn, whose uncle is an Army doctor who could be called back for duty. “Because even though we can’t vote or anything right now, we can voice our opinion.”
Part of voicing that opinion during the walkout will include disseminating information on the war to educate less informed students “so it’s not just a walkout at school and not doing anything,” Aislinn said. “It would still make an impact, but we still want the students who decide to do it to get something out of it.”
Fellow group member Sarita Rosenstock, who is also a sophomore at PHS, said the group’s promotion of the walkout on the Web site Facebook has raised the expected number of participants to 150.
”There isn’t really much active discussion in the school environment about what is going on in Iraq, which is one of the reasons why we’re doing this,” she said. “Activism in New Jersey showing that we oppose it is important at this stage.”
Apart from the five-year anniversary, the protest is particularly timely because of the potential for some units in the New Jersey National Guard to be called up for duty, Sarita said.
Though the event is not sanctioned by the school, the students are continuing to communicate with PHS Principal Gary Snyder about the walkout.
”He’s not necessarily condoning it, but he said he would do his best to minimize the punishment,” Sarita said. “He’s going to try to make it so the people who participate won’t get detention.”
”At this point, it is a conversation of what their objective is and talking about what my responsibilities are and how we balance those things,” Mr. Snyder said Thursday, crediting the organizers with having a serious intent.
”These students — they are not simply looking to get out of class,” he said. “They’re serious about their cause and they’re passionate, and at the same time they are respectful of the school and their teachers.”
While classes will continue as usual during the walkout, school officials will monitor the event to ensure safety, he said.
The Rev. Bob Moore, Coalition For Peace Action’s executive director, praised Mr. Snyder for his handling of the planned protest.
”In some ways you do want to — even as an exercise in democracy — encourage the responsible exercise of dissent,” he said. “I think that’s partly what Mr. Snyder is doing.”
Sarita said she hopes the walkout makes an impact.
”If 200 people walk out of class, that is going to make a statement,” she said, “and people are going to see that we really care about the issue.”
Aislinn said the group has received a lot of support from like-minded students.
”At the same time, there are people who are saying, ‘What will a walkout do? Why show your opposition to something that is already happening?’” she said. “Our response generally is that on the 19th, nationally and worldwide, there are going to be so many different protests. It’s kind like we’re adding our own event to this long list of national events.”
