For Immediate Release: Monday, October 24

SFSU STUDENTS PROTEST MILITARY RECRUITERS ON CAMPUS
Cindy Sheehan flies to White House to protest 2000th US Fatality in Iraq

The expected 2000th US fatality in Iraq will be marked by hundreds of protests around the country, including Cindy Sheehan going directly to the White House to demand a meeting with President Bush. In San Francisco, the major protest will take place at San Francisco State University (SFSU) as students and community members protest both the presence of Marine recruiters on campus and the death of the 2000th US soldier.

Students and protesters will rally at San Francisco State University (SFSU) 10:30 AM this Wednesday to oppose any military recruiters who dare to come onto campus. Matt Gonzalez of the Green Party, Aimee Allison, a conscientious objector in the first Gulf War and currently on the steering committee of the College Not Combat-Yes on Prop I campaign, Sharon Adams of the National Lawyers Guild, and others will be speaking against the presence of military recruiters at the campus job fair and against the brutal war in Iraq which has killed over 100,000 Iraqi Civilians and now 2,000 US soldiers. Cindy Sheehan of Gold Star Families for Peace, grieving mother of a fallen US soldier who camped out outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, lends her support to SFSU students as she travels to Washington DC.

As the military finds it harder to convince recruits to fight, the antiwar and counter-recruitment movement is stepping up its fight to demand “College Not Combat, Money for Education Not Occupation.”

This comes during an intense legal struggle between students and the university. National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Attorneys have filed suit against SFSU on behalf of two student groups, Students Against War (SAW) and the International Socialist Organization (ISO). The suit arises from a protest against military recruiters on March 9th of this year that took place on the SFSU campus. The NLG accuses SFSU administrators of violating their own policies against discrimination based on sexual orientation by allowing recruiters on campus, and of violating the due process rights of the student organizations by punishing them at the end of an unfair disciplinary process. Disciplinary action is still pending for three individual students, and the university’s actions have significantly hindered students’ rights to organize on October 26.

The crackdown on students is matched with leniency toward recruiters who shamelessly defy the anti-discrimination policies of universities such as SFSU. “The people and the City of San Francisco have consistently supported gay rights and opposed discrimination,” stated Matt Gonzalez of the Green Party, “The University should publicly condemn the military's discriminatory policy and back the students in their efforts to keep recruiters off campus.”

“Our university officials are systematically trying to keep us from protesting the military coming onto our campus,” stated Michael Hoffman of Students Against War, one of the students facing disciplinary action for last semester’s protests. “We are not going to let them strip us of our right to free speech and our right to demand that not one more student die for this immoral war!”

On November 8th, the city of San Francisco will vote on Proposition I to get military recruiters out of San Francisco schools. The passage of this resolution is sure to bolster future actions at SFSU and beyond.