*RUTLAND COUNTY*

Activists lambaste campus recruiting

December 7, 2005

By Alan J. Keays Herald Staff

A group opposed to military recruiters in schools took their protest to the recruiters.

About 15 people, holding handmade signs reading, "Books not Bombs," and "Keep the Military Out of Our Schools," demonstrated Tuesday afternoon in Rutland outside the U.S. armed forces recruiting offices on North Main Street.

The protest was part of a nationwide effort by the Campus Anti-War Network, which called for a "national day of counter-recruitment" to coincide with a case argued Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation's highest court will decide whether colleges can ban military recruiters without losing federal funding.

Some law schools, including Vermont Law School, have prohibited military recruiters on campus in protest of the Pentagon's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of prohibiting openly gay people from serving in the military.

"We're standing in solidarity with our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, absolutely," said Carol Tashie of Rutland, an organizer of the protest Tuesday. "This particular demonstration is a demonstration that says, 'Military recruitment out of our schools.'"

Organizers of the demonstration in Rutland did not know if other protests were taking place Tuesday elsewhere in Vermont.

Tom Copps of Rutland, one of the protesters, said he turned out Tuesday because of his resistance to military recruiters in schools as well as his opposition to the war in Iraq.

"I don't approve of what's going on over there," said Copps, who served two years in the U.S. Army in the 1960s.

Regarding military recruiting, Copps said, "At the very least I would like a balance between recruiting and counter-recruiting. There is such a thing as a free market."

Military recruiters working Tuesday said there was little they could say about the protest held on the sidewalk outside of their office.

"It's their right to protest," Sgt. Travis Mattern of the U.S. Marine Corps said. "It's not going to prevent us from doing our job."

1st Sgt. Robert Labine agreed with Mattern.

"One of the beautiful rights of our country is the right to protest," Labine said. "That's why we do what we do."

Some motorists on the heavily traveled North Main Street honked horns Tuesday afternoon as they passed the demonstrators, while others simply drove by.

Donald Gray of Central Vermont Peace and Justice is another protest organizer.

"We want to keep military recruiters out of the school," said Gray, a Pittsfield resident. "One of the biggest reasons is that military is not an equal opportunity employer because they don't hire gays and lesbians."

Gray added that he didn't believe recruiters should be allowed in high schools or universities, even if openly gay people were allowed to serve in the military.

"Our idea is we're trying to end recruiting, we're against war," Gray said. "We're trying to change people's attitudes about war."

Contact Alan J. Keays at alan.keays@rutlandherald.com.