Collegiate Times

Today, the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war, many Virginia Tech organizations will come together to gather on the Drillfield for what the organizers predict will be the largest campus anti-war protest at Tech since the month before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

"There should be a minimum of 50 to 100 people," said Burke Thomas. Thomas, one of the organizers of the protest - and a regular opinion page columnist in the Collegiate Times - has been working behind the scenes to help coordinate the protest since November when the protest first began its early stages of planning.

The goal of the protest is to gather enough student signatures to call on the Student Government Association to either vote "for" or "against" the War in Iraq. If the protesters succeed and the SGA votes to condemn the war, it would make Tech one of only a handful of schools to officially take a stand on the war since the University of Texas' SGA condemned it in 2003.

Thomas is hoping that the protest will "drum up interest, garner conversation, and bring attention to" Iraq. Additionally, the protesters hope the vote will pass in both the undergrad and graduate student governments.

The Coalition for Justice, a local non-student organization, has held monthly vigils outside of the post office in protest of the war.

"Our mission is about promoting peace and justice. We've been doing a vigil for over a year in front of our post office; this is a logical connection to our opposition to the war in Iraq," said Marian Mollin, a member of the organization and an associate professor at Tech.

Mollin added when asked about their role in the protest on Friday that, "a lot of students come to our protest. We'd like to reciprocate the support by showing up at their event."

Additional organizations plan to make themselves seen at the protest on Friday.

Tugrul Keskin, a Ph.D candidate in sociology, founded his organization, the Society of Islam and Muslim Societies, in 2007. The society uses a listserv service where he and 700 other Islamic academics can communicate.

Keskin considers this protest to be of great importance.

"Starting with the Iraq War, the American image has been damaged in Muslim societies." He added, "In order to change image in Muslim societies, we need to address Iraq."

Students for Non-Violence is another organization that plans to have some members out at the protest; however, it has taken a passive stance on the Iraq War.

Club Vice President Leah Wickham said, "As a club we support the initiative of the protests, although we haven't taken an official stance."

Wickham was prompt to point out that the "protest sits well with our mission and our vision, especially because it's a student-run initiative. That's something we advocate, students taking action and not waiting for administration, students seeing issue and saying, 'I want to do something about that.'"

Along with the previous three organizations, several others have signed on to be in attendance. The Burning Book Community Club, whose treasurer, Sally Morgan, said that out of 20 members, she plans on "five to 10" showing up on Friday.

The Global Justice Alliance, Muslim Students Association and ASPECT (Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical and Cultural Thought) have also signed on, but were unavailable for comment.

The event will last from 5 to 5:45 p.m. and features keynote speaker Casey Overturf, who was also unavailable for comment.

Overturf served in Fallujah in 2004 and is now an undergraduate who holds the distinction as Tech's only member of Iraq Veterans against the War.