Protesters demands ROTC ends recruiting at UIC

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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-recruit26.html

Chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho, ROTC has to go!" a group of University of Illinois at Chicago students and activists demanded an end to military recruiting on campus Saturday.

The group held a conference at UIC, then marched from Stevenson Hall to the building that houses the university's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program. About 20 students and activists participated. They carried banners with slogans like, "College Not Combat" and "Military Out of Our Schools."

"We don't want the military on our campus," said Sussan Navabi, a 19-year-old sophomore history major and member of Students for Social Justice. "ROTC should be the next target for the anti-war movement because it's the way we're going to demilitarize our schools."

Lt. Col. John Mikos, battalion commander of the Army ROTC program at UIC and five other area colleges, did not return calls. snip

Anti-war activist Cristina Martinez said Saturday that Chicago has "the most militarized public school district in the whole country," where recruiters prey on underprivileged and minority teens. While Chicago has 42 junior ROTC programs, there are only five in suburban high schools, she said.

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1. "While Chicago has 42 junior ROTC programs, there are only five.."

:grr: And I actually saw some suburban New Jersey woman on TV saying fighting in Iraq wasn't really "for" her kids, but for the poor kids in the city. If I had been anywhere in the vicinity during that interview, I would have gone into the nearest bakery to get a pie to throw in her face.