Students walk out for peace

<www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2003/March/06/local/stories/01local.htm>

March 6, 2003
By DAN WHITE
and DONNA JONES
Sentinel staff writers

SANTA CRUZ -- In the old days of student anti-war rallies, youngsters faced disapproval from elders as they fought “The Military Industrial Complex.”
But the generation gap was missing Wednesday when hundreds of students countywide walked out of class for peace. The students, in some cases, earned praise from administrators who called them “thoughtful.” Others drew high-fives from parents.
The sympathy, however, didn’t stop administrators from doling out punishments.
The protesters were among thousands of students who cut class the nationwide to protest a war with Iraq. It could not be determined Wednesday night how many students participated across the nation. The National Youth and Student Peace Coalition had no immediate estimate. The group said earlier that tens of thousands of students at more than 350 high schools, colleges and universities had pledged to join.
Thousands of students also rallied for peace in Britain, Sweden, Spain, Australia and other countries.
More than 150 San Lorenzo Valley High School students quietly walked out of class between 11:45 a.m. and noon, and sat in silence on the senior lawn.
“If we had started causing a scene, people would think we were just a bunch of stupid minors,” said junior Jenny Gorkol, 17. “If we act more mature, people will probably listen to us more.”
Laurel Beck, 17, one of the four senior girls who organized the event, said funding education should come before military spending. “I’m disappointed that our society has come so far and yet we still resort to violence.”
The student protests started at 6:30 a.m. when a dozen students set up a picket along Highway 9 near campus. Students headed for classes when the first bell rang at 7:50, Principal Ray Shurson said.
Surveying the tranquil crowd before noon, Shurson said he was proud of the students.
“This is part of the democratic process,” he said. “I’m always upset when students leave classes, but under the circumstances, they’re not cutting school, they’re not going off campus. They’re acting responsibly.”
Nevertheless, Shurson said participants will likely face some kind of community service.
“We want to try to keep it positive rather than just punitive,” he said.
Aptos High School, where 250 students staged a walk-out last month over bad cafeteria food and on-campus confinement, had no large-scale peace walk-out Wednesday, administrators said.
A Santa Cruz High School administrator reported just one student walked out.
At Soquel High School, roughly 100 of 1,300 students left classes, though about half returned, said Assistant Principal Andy Waddell.
Among the protesters was Alma Carlson, 17, a senior who found it striking that people on the street including many old enough to be her grandparents were more sympathetic than some fellow students.
“We had so much support on the street, and yet we walked back to school and some of our peers were booing us,” she said. “It surprised me they didn’t realize this concerns our future.”
Carlson called the protest a political awakening. “It almost felt like, ‘This is my turn.’ I remember being little and thinking about people who protested during Vietnam and saying, ‘When is it gonna be my turn?’ Now it’s here.”
Her parents were not upset. In fact, she said, “My dad drove by a couple times just to honk his support. They were both Vietnam protesters.”
Elizabeth Handley, a parent of a Soquel High School student demonstrator, was thrilled her son took part.
“My son actually called me and said, ‘What do you feel about civil disobedience?’ and when he told me I said, ‘Go for it, power to the people.’”
At Pacific Collegiate School, a Santa Cruz charter school for middle and high school students, 50 of 318 students walked out in the morning, schools officials said.
Eighth-grader Kelsey Forest, 13, protested alongside her mother, Catherine Forest. Both attended a mass demonstration in San Francisco in January.
Kelsey said students talked about Iraq in her Wednesday history class, “and most students agreed the walk-out was a good idea. There were some who doubted what impact it would have. But most were very emphatic about it being the right thing to do.”
About a dozen students walked out of classes at Scotts Valley High School, but Principal Ken Thomas persuaded them to return. He set up an “open mic” during lunch so they could voice their concerns about war.
One of the larger walkouts took place at Watsonville High School, where about 250 of 3,000 students cut classes and made their way downtown.
Principal Larry Lane said demonstrators were articulate and well-behaved but still face four hours of Saturday school or volunteer work as punishment.
An estimated 50 students walked out of the Renaissance High School, also in Pajaro Valley School District.
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Contact Dan White at dwhite (at) santa-cruz.com