Group calls for closing of Georgia school

By Laura Pelner
Campus Editor

They went to fight for the rights of the oppressed, to offer support for those who have no voice to speak for themselves.

They went to advocate the closing of an American institution that, in their words, promotes terrorism and has killed thousands of innocents.

They are a group of 20 people — Purdue students, religious leaders and local residents — who went to Ft. Benning, Ga., to protest the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the School of the Americas.

"Our tax dollars pay for (the school)," said Damon Hall, a senior in the School of Agriculture. "As a student who pays taxes, as someone who's going to pay taxes all my life, I'm very concerned about the money.

"This is extremely upsetting, to find out my money is being used to kill people, innocent people who are not trying to start a movement," Hall said.

He said Ft. Benning is a place where the military trains Latin American officers in psychological and strategic warfare tactics to dismantle groups of people, usually peasants, and take control of their land and its resources. Hall said 75,000 people were killed in El Salvador, 200,000 were killed in Guatemala and 100,000 were killed in Columbia.

The local group left for Georgia Friday morning and returned at 5 a.m. Monday. They, along with between 7,000 and 10,000 others, held a vigil at the Ft. Benning gate to advocate closing the school.

"When we left (St. Thomas Aquinas Church) on Friday morning we were not sure what awaited us in Georgia," said Luke Van de walle, a senior in the School of Liberal Arts, as he read a statement prepared by the group.

Van de walle said he and the others were proud to attend the vigil, which included a funeral procession to remember those who've died because of the school.

"We left our crosses, icons, flowers and other sacred objects on the 8-foot chain-link fence at the gates of Ft. Benning in memory of all the innocents who have been killed, and those who have lost their lives in the pursuit of justice and freedom," Van de walle said.

Father Dan Davis of St. Thomas Aquinas said one of the most interesting parts of the trip was the way the group was treated by police and military officers — gently and respectfully. He said there weren't any negative sentiments and that he believed the officers may have agreed with the vigil's message.

Patricia Henley, a St. Tom's parishioner and associate professor of English, said the United States can never end terrorism until it ends its own role in promoting it, which Hall agreed with.

"This is about terrorism, this is a school that trains terrorists," Hall said. "This takes precedent (over the war in Afghanistan). We've got to clean up our own backyard before we can worry about anyone else's."

Davis said the vigil was even more relevant because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He said the United States now knows about terrorism firsthand and should therefore support closing the school.

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Campus editor: Laura Pelner

Assistant campus editors: Kurt Esposito, Dave Stephens

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