Student protester responds to columnist, has not forgotten about Sept. 11 attacks

Jessica Iannetta’s reporting on the ROTC work-in last week focused on the most remarkable part of the protest — the respectful yet honest dialogue it engendered between cadets and protesters.

Following up in a letter on Sept. 1, Ben Tupper, a combat veteran, wrote “kudos to those who feel dissent is patriotic and those who put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.” The nuance with which Tupper addresses these complex issues is exactly what we hope to develop through dialogue with ROTC — a dialogue we hope to continue with the cadets who welcomed us. We need to encourage critical thinking and discussion among people who may disagree on war and militarism because so many lives are at stake.

On Sept. 12, columnist Michael Stikkel charged me and the protesters with, among other things, forgetting about 9/11. We do remember 9/11 and have friends who lost loved ones, but we won’t use 9/11 to justify killing tens of thousands more civilians. But Stikkel specifically asked what I meant by saying that “a lot of the university’s goals and missions conflict with (the) military presence” on campus.

Under “Our Vision” on Syracuse University’s website, it names strengthening “democratic institutions” and educating “fully informed citizens” as two main goals. If a reader believes the United States’ recent wars have helped strengthen democracy or that military leadership has been strong on critical thinking as of late, it is unlikely I could persuade him or her differently in the allotted 400 hundred words. But I will suggest two Google searches: Look for polls of Iraqi citizens about the U.S. presence and consider whether U.S. leadership cares about democracy when occupying another country, and search “Bradley Manning” for what the military and the Barack Obama administration does with those who try and encourage fully informed citizens.

There are plenty more examples. But what the protesters really wanted to emphasize was that the war isn’t just waged in far-off foreign lands — it’s carried out here on campus with the militarized space of the ROTC. It is within walking distance of SU at Hancock Airbase, where drone pilots fly remote-controlled attack missions on villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Syracuse is a war zone and I encourage other students to take part in dialogue and action. For more information on local peace efforts, look for Youth Organizing Against Militarism and War – Syracuse on Facebook.

Ben Kuebrich

Class of 2014

Composition and Cultural Rhetoric