To the Editor:
In her recent letter to the editor ("SDS protest was a disservice," March 8), Megan Collins '08 made several points that we feel are worth addressing.
She claims our protest challenged intellectual diversity at Brown. We do not believe this to be the case - refusal to allow groups affiliated with war to use university resources is well within the precedent of Brown University's understanding of intellectual diversity. For example, Brown divested from companies profiting from the genocide occurring in Sudan and abolished the ROTC program.
We also feel it is important to point out that telling us to take our opinions elsewhere, as Collins suggested, stands in stark opposition to intellectual diversity.
Collins claims that our anti-war viewpoint is not representative of public opinion on campus. The general anti-war feeling on campus is well-documented, but furthermore, SDS is in favor of, and working toward, the establishment of a student union to provide both student power and the democratic infrastructure that would allow statements representative of the student body to be possible and impacting.
Collins suggests that our presence was impeding her job search and making Brown look bad. We strongly disagree. Demonstrating that there are students at Brown who are aware of what Raytheon, the world's fifth largest military contractor, does - and who are willing to do something about it - reinforces the image of Brown students as independent, courageous and dedicated. We do not want to impede anyone from getting a job but simply wish Brown to endorse socially responsible companies rather than arms manufacturers.
We fully agree with Collins, however, in her suggestion to protest war profiteers off-campus. In fact, we invite Collins and the rest of the Brown community to protest at the international headquarters of Textron (the makers of cluster bombs and military helicopters) in downtown Providence. We will be meeting at 1 p.m. at Faunce Arch on March 19 to march to Textron Tower.
Alex Ortiz '09Alex Tye '10Amy Littlefield '09Bucky Rogers '07Donata Secondo '10Ella Chary '07Ingrid O'Brien '07Jason Hitchner '10Nicole Carty '10Noah Wiener '09Margaree Little '08.5Mike da Cruz '08.5Rick Ahl '09Robin Peckham '10Senia Barragan '08Will Emmons '09Will Lambek '09Will Pasley '07Vale Cofer-Shabica '09Brown Students for a Democratic SocietyMarch 9
