Protests down due to campus persuasion
By Sarah Krebs
Staff Reporter

Students and faculty attribute the scarcity of protests and low turnout at anti-war and pro-soldier protests to TCU’s mostly conservative students. Others see the lack of networking and advertising by Student Peace Action as the cause for small protest rallies.

The biggest showing for any on-campus rally at TCU this year was at the pro-war rally Monday at Frog Fountain, which was sponsored by Frogs for Freedom.

Cathy Coghlan, a lecturer in sociology, said the biggest reason for the low turnout is the generalized belief that the war is justified and is liberating the Iraqi people.

“Part of this stems from Sept. 11 and links with terrorism and the feeling of the United States being victimized,” Coghlan said. “There has also been more pro-war propaganda than anti-war, which helps show the prevailing belief that the war is just.”

Manochehr Dorraj, a political science professor, said the protest turnouts were larger before the war because people protesting the war now are afraid of appearing unsympathetic to the troops.

“The central feeling tends to rally around the troops,” Dorraj said. “When war starts they keep the feeling that they simply are rooting for the troops.”

Jeff Brubaker, president of Peace Action, said one reason for protesting during the war was to stop the next one from happening. He said most people do not make that connection.

“Just because the war is happening, doesn’t mean we have to sit back and take it,” said Brubaker, a junior history major.

Some universities are having events protesting the war. The University of North Texas had a nationwide class walk-out March 6 to protest war and more than 250 students participated. At TCU, there was no more than a handful.

Brubaker said he was surprised by the lack of protesters and thought that after the war started, the group size would increase. However, due to lack of membership and advertising, he said only an average of two or three protesters attend.

“People at TCU aren’t affected by what is going on,” Brubaker said. “They can see pictures on TV, and they can see numbers, but (the war) is not going to stop class or money from parents, so it doesn’t affect them.”

Abbey Jones, a junior political science major, said the organization that sponsored Monday’s pro-war rally was probably better networked than Peace Action. She said if there were more international students at TCU, there would have probably been more of a turnout.

“They are more attune to global issues and consequences to international issues than U.S. students,” Jones said. “We see the American history point of view whereas they see a more objective point of view.”

Coghlan also said having a larger international student body would give TCU a more global point of view.

Different demographics and political associations determine whether protesting would be favorable in any given university, Coghlan said.

“People here are mostly Republican and the last time I checked, the polls said that about 80 percent of the Republicans supported Bush’s decisions,” she said.

Brandon Mogg, a freshman science and engineering major who is pro-war, said opposing the views of the president and the country is not popular. He said most students at TCU are conservative and because of that conservative upbringing, students probably support the war.

s.d.krebs@tcu.edu