Oberlin College has, in recent years, developed a tradition of protesting the School of the Americas, a notorious international military training school in Fort Benning, Ga. In 2000, two recent Oberlin graduates were arrested for scaling the fence that bordered the military complex. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, before being arrested, they unfurled a 1750 foot banner that read, “North and South the People Say: Close the School of the Americas.”

The SOA officially closed in 2001, after 12 years of protest. However, a new school, with a new name — The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation — soon opened in the same location and offered many similar classes. The protests continue. Students still refer to it as the SOA, and they still travel to Fort Benning each year to advocate for its closing.

In light of this year’s upcoming protest, a faculty panel met Thursday to discuss the historical and current significance of the SOA and the validity of protesting it.

History Professor Greg Hammond traced the origins of the SOA to the early 19th century, when the United States first developed interest in Latin America. He explained that the SOA officially began in 1946 as a part of the United States government’s attempt to strengthen its solidarity with Latin America and unite the American continents.

From there, Hammond explained, the SOA became a place to train counter-insurgency leaders to fend off communism in places like Cuba. The SOA has maintained a similar role ever since.

Protests did not begin until 1989 when six Jesuit priests were murdered in El Salvador, supposedly by graduates of the SOA.

Baron Pineda, professor of cultural anthropology, then spoke about the possibilities of doing research, not only about the SOA itself, but research about the protests as well. This was partly in response to a recently-published book, The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence, by Leslie Gill.

“The SOA protest has emerged as one of the main causes around which people have been organizing in the last ten years,” said Pineda. “What’s interesting to me is how one goes about doing research about this protest.”

Pineda predicted that, because of the SOA’s role as one of the main contemporary protest causes, the group of activists that focus on it now will later become political “cohorts” — a term that he used in a positive sense.

Kristina Mani, professor of politics, concluded the panel by encouraging students to think about the SOA in new ways.

Specifically, Mani challenged students to question how WHINSEC operates, especially within the broader context of United States foreign policy.

“The SOA is not unique,” Mani said, explaining that most of the United States’ international military training happens in other countries. The SOA accounts for about five percent of the total training. Mani encouraged students to learn about these other institutions, in addition to the SOA.

Mani also spoke about WHINSEC’s attempt to create a new image for itself. For instance, the school requires that each class it teaches have a human rights component. Mani questioned how these human rights are being taught.

“What do trainees actually take away from that? They are taught in such a way that there is no debate,” she said.

Mani concluded her talk by urging students to acknowledge the SOA’s tricky complexity.

“Put yourself in the devil’s advocate position and see what good can come out of these systems,” said Mani. “This is the kind of rebuttal you will need to bring.”

She also encouraged students to think about what could be done to enhance the current training.

“What could be done to make it as meaningful and humane as possible?” she asked.

The faculty panel and the protest trip were organized by Oberlin Students in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala and the Oberlin Peace Activists League. So far, 35 students have purchased tickets to this year’s protest.