High school students win right to counter-recruitment table

[PA Democrat]

The controversy began last fall when a group of Kennedy students, opposed to the Iraq war and the periodic appearance of military recruitment tables at their school, decided to challenge the recruiters. The teens organized a local chapter of the organization Youth Against War and Racism (YAWR), which provides young people with the other side of the story regarding the realities of war.

After a series of meetings, they decided to set up a table opposite the military recruiters in the cafeteria during school lunch on Dec. 8 of last year. The teenagers tabled next to the military representatives and, on that day alone, collected more than 100 signatures on a student petition to stop military recruitment at their school.

When they prepared for the recruiters' next scheduled visit, however, they met some opposition from administrators. Students must apply for a cafeteria table and put up fliers, and while their last fliers were approved immediately, their next application for nearly identical fliers took two months, students said. Then, the day before they were to host a table, the students were told their organization would not be allowed to set up a table. Administrators were unable to forbid the students from holding a teach-in later that day, however.

"We were told that we would be suspended for three days if we tabled," said one student. YAWR members soon heard that representatives of the American Legion, which donates heavily to the school, came to visit Bloomington Schools Superintendent Gary Prest and Kennedy High School Principal Ron Simmons, threatening to stop donations if the pro-peace group was allowed to recruit.

http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=1678