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Students from Towson area high schools and colleges came together today to hold an evening candlelight vigil and walk, marking the latest step in their growing collaboration against the impending war in Iraq. The vigil, for which about 25 students gathered on Towson University's campus, was timed to coincide with the national student strike against the war, although Towson students did not organize strikes.

"I'm here because I'm against the war on Iraq. I think we have the United Nations here for a reason and the United States really needs to get on board-preemptive strikes are illegal. I hope today we can spread a little awareness [of the war] to our campus-local awareness," commented Towson University senior Julie Brownley. Carver Center for Arts and Technology student Becca Hartman concurred, pointing out that it's really important for people to speak up at this time.

#file_2# Anti-war activism has grown quickly in the suburban Baltimore schools, with at least three new organizations forming during February and students becoming organized on an inter-school basis. The vigil today was organized by the Towson AntiWar Coalition, which formed in early February and, since then, has sponsored an all-day teach-in and sent students to the February 15 protest in New York City. Other new organizations include Now or Never, a general anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist group, and an anti-war theatre group based on Goucher College's campus. Students at Carver, a local magnet high school, are also organizing.

"I think for our generation the left has been pretty much on the fringe but people just can't understand this war-it just doesn't make sense-and that rings a bell for people," said Towson AntiWar Coalition activist Nick, when asked about the sudden upsurge in campus anti-war activism.

Currently, antiwar activists at the various schools are spending most of their time organizing an area walkout for if the war starts. The action, which will involve rallies on each campus and then a joint march, will take place at noon on the day the war starts, or noon the next school day if the war starts after noon or on a weekend.

#file_3# The vigilers gathered in the grassy quad on the center of Towson University's campus before walking behind a banner reading "Towson Students Against War" to the Glen Towers, where students spilled out of the dining hall and dorms to listen to the activists chant "No War" and "Drop Bush, Not Bombs." The watching students expressed positive reactions, with several spontaneously joining the group.

When asked what she thought of the protest, freshman passerby Sophie Ansalatos said, "I think [the vigil] is very admirable...it's time people our age started sticking up for what's right. I think the war is very stupid and there's no point to it."

Many of the organizers of the Towson antiwar activities first met in the anti-corporate globalization movement and in campus living wage struggles, but others are becoming involved in activism for the first time, drawn by the absurdity and outrageousness of Bush's war plans. Immediately following September 2001, students from Towson, Johns Hopkins, and Goucher joined for a 200-person rally at Hopkins to say "Justice not Revenge" but since that point there was little anti-war activity at either Towson or Goucher until this semester, and few of the students who organized the event in 2001 were present at the rally today, probably because of the rapid turnover inherent in student groups. However, activism in the Towson area seems to be on an upsurge generally, perhaps marking a resurgence of the left to the place it was before September 2001.

Towson University campus police surveyed the vigil from a distance but did not approach the activists or interfere with their activities, despite their not having filled out a "protest permit" for the peaceful event. This was a positive change from the policy last fall, when police harassed students at a small living wage demonstration, demanding their IDs and sending threatening letters to their home addresses for alleged "violations of the protest policy." The friendlier behave might be attributed to the presence of a campus student affairs administrator, who acted as a de-facto liaison with the police.

Sophomore passerby Jared Frankel supported the students' right to protest. "I think it's good that people can voice their own opinions here because that's what college is all about. If this can get something done...then maybe people could actually change things and that's what's really cool about this event."