Approximately 30 people gathered at Brown and Brew yesterday afternoon to listen to performances in protest of the Iraq war.
Organizers the Tufts Democrats, the Tufts Coalition to Oppose the War in Iraq (TCOWI), and the Peace and Justice Studies Department hoped to get the Tufts community thinking more about Iraq.
"We just want students to be engaged with issues on the war," senior and Peace and Justice Studies and English major Allie Bohm said.
To that end, event organizers invited students to a Jan. 27 protest in Washington, D.C. and to raise money to help fund the trip.
"We're past the point of saving face," freshman and Tufts Democrats member Will Ehrenfeld said. "We need to start saving lives."
Students sounded off in music and in words on the Brown and Brew stage to relay this message.
Seniors Manan Shah and Jeff Remis performed with guitar and vocals, and sophomore Kris Coombs wrote and performed a capella "Peace Poems" and a piece called "Awakening," accompanied by Julia Gmeiner and Nick Lamb.
Associate Professor of Music John McDonald played another piece Coombs arranged called "Emotion."
Excited by student enthusiasm, McDonald said he was reminded of growing up during the Vietnam War. "I grew up in a time where protests were much more common and bigger," he said.
Associate Professor of History Gary Leupp, TCOWI President Gabe Frumkin, and Tufts Democrats President Kayt Norris also addressed the students.
Norris hoped the event could bring together anti-war members of the community, regardless of their political affiliations or preferred exit strategy.
"Currently on campus there is only one voice against the war, TCOWI, but they want immediate withdrawal. But we feel like there are individuals who are more moderately against the war, so the Tufts Democrats got involved to represent a broader political spectrum," she said.
"As young Democrats, it is our responsibility to go beyond the party line and make the party what we want it to be," Norris said.
According to Frumkin, over 20 students signed up to come to the Washington rally. This is an "excellent amount of commitment," he said.
Members of the Peace and Justice Studies Department joined the other groups to help organize the event in order to actively express their anti-war views.
"As the Department of Peace and Justice we need to not only teach about it, but to take action," Bohm said.
The event was one of several leading up to the Washington, D.C. rally. Frumkin said that students plan to make signs in the Crafts Center on Tuesday night, and screen a film about Vietnam on Thursday.
"These events are important for Tufts," he said. "It shows we have a growing movement against the war."
