UCSC Student Activist Tolerance for Militarism

As a strong supporter of our forefather’s goals for peace and justice, it was interesting observing today’s student activists at UCSC and what they had to say about militarism. In celebration for the recent cancellation of the US Army and US Marines attending the Job fair today at UCSC there was a rally held at the campus, starting at the Bay tree Plaza and ending at Kerr Hall, outside of the Chancellor’s office. However, ridding recruitment at the job fair is not fully demilitarizing the campus, so many felt. UCSC is contributing to military research, thus, the ‘War Machine’ as many have stated, is still within us and our education.
However, as UCSC has a reputation for being a community of peace loving hippies, they have not proven their so called level of tolerance. Students at the rally were so happily declaring their success in ‘kicking out’ military recruiters but in violating the 1st Amendment student activists at UCSC has made it so police staff had to escort recruiters to safety. If students at this campus claim to embrace tolerance, the police should not have been so directly involved unless there was a direct threat to the campus community. It was a discriminatory act as a whole, and the US Military, as well as anyone wishing to potentially join the armed forces, should not feel intimidated by what is usually a friendly campus. In this case we have seen the ugly side of activists whose actions were both prejudice and unfair. Those who are against the war need to understand that supporting those in the military is not always supporting the war. More importantly and often overlooked is the fact that most people against the war are war veterans themselves!
The military recruiters are not the problem at UCSC, but it is what the campus is doing to directly contribute to military research. Those who attended the rally today will most likely project their political voices once again at the upcoming Protest Against the War in Iraq on which will take place on May 9th. There, activist can prove their tolerance and focus their attention where it is needed most while simultaneously allowing UCSC faculty to hear their hopeful cries for peace.