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Besides students from Oberlin, alumni also turned out for the rally. Those spotted include Matthew Borus '98, Lisa Zahren '98, and Daniel Spalding '99.
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Students, Arrested, Return from SOA Protest
NOVEMBER 30, 1999--During the November 20-21 weekend, three Oberlin students were arrested at Ft. Benning, Georgia, for committing a high-risk nonviolent action. The act carried with it possible penalties of large fines and six months in federal prison. Jackie Downing, a sophomore from Topsfield, Massachusetts, and Laurel Paget-Seekins, a junior from Philo, California--cochairs of Oberlin SOA (School of the Americas) Watch--together with Kathleen Berrigan, a first-year student from Baltimore, were arrested for entering the Ft. Benning military base that Sunday.
The three students and 77 other members of the Oberlin Chapter of SOA Watch were among 12,000 united in protest of the U.S. military-training school. Of them, 4400 risked arrest and crossed the line onto the army base. Sixty-five were arrested, and 23 who had crossed the line in previous years will face prosecution for trespassing on federal property. The arrested Oberlin students, later released, returned to class last week. Preparations for the protest weekend began early in September. Downing and Paget-Seekins spent more than 20 hours a week recruiting and training student volunteers in protest decorum and media relations and seeking financial support. Early this month, conservatory students hosted a benefit concert at the Cat in the Cream that netted $500. The cochairs estimate that a total of $5000 was raised. The Oberlin contingent, including students from more than 22 states and six countries, left Finney Chapel's parking lot for Georgia November 19. In Georgia, Downing--the national SOA Watch spokesperson for the student groups involved in the rally--addressed the media in a press conference Saturday, November 20. The student groups were from 42 states and 232 colleges and universities. With their matching bright green T-shirts and large signs, the Oberlin group, while not the largest, was the most visible. "We got a lot of compliments, even from the general in charge of Ft. Benning," says Paget-Seekins. Last week Downing shared in a letter to Oberlin SOA Watch supporters what it was like to take part in the largest act of nonviolent civil disobedience since Vietnam.
Please send comments, questions, and suggestions about Oberlin Online news and feature articles to Linda.Grashoff@oberlin.edu.
