PROTEST for peace - Above: Students for Peace and Justice attended a demonstration in Georgia protesting the School of Americes.

Left: Matt Haberkorn and Tim Eldridge, sophomores, stand with 20,000 other protesters in Fort Benning, Ga.

NUNCA MA - Wartburg students hold signs in protest of the School of Americas.

Students for Peace and Justice (SPJ) is a student organization that has existed in name for many years. The organization re-emerged with its current goals in 1997.

"We promote social justice and peace locally as well as globally through activism," said group co-leader Shannon Lau.

SPJ has already helped to sponsor three major events this year.

The highlight of SPJ members' action this year was a trip to Fort Benning, Ga., to protest the School of the Americas. The School of the Americas is a United States government military school supported by American tax dollars. The school trains Latin American soldiers in such things as war tactics. Many of these soldiers go on to participate in death squads and other terrorist activities.

Fifteen Wartburg students joined 20,000 others in Georgia for the annual protest. Several Wartburg students joined the 4500 people who crossed the trespassing line of the school.

SPJ is also responsible for the posters around campus concerning the United Nations sanctions against Iraq. The group is encouraging students to write to U.S. Senators asking them to stop the sanctions.

Most recently, members of SPJ participated in the Martin Luther King Jr., a teach-in. Last year, SPJ organized an inter-religious dialogue during Culture Week. The event included a panel of representatives from five different faiths.

Events planned for the remainder of the term include another inter-religious dialogue as well as speakers about the Iraqi sanctions.

The organization is also hoping to sponsor a viewing of the movie Romero.

This film is about a former archbishop of El Salvador who was brutally murdered because of his beliefs about the liberation theology.

Lau and Tim Eldridge, group co-leaders, have organized the members into three committees. The committees change from year to year and have one specific focus.

The committee focuses for this year are the School of the Americas, Iraqi sanctions and the World Trade Organization.

Members do their best to educate themselves on the issues and then they try to inform the campus.

"We try not only to promote activism, but to look at the real roots of the problem, said Lau.

"Since we are calling for change about these political issues, some may see our group as radical."

SPJ members said they would like to encourage other students to join and find out what their organization is all about.

The 15-member group usually meets once a week in Buhr Lounge. If you are interested in joining, contact Lau at Ext. 7789 or Eldridge at Ext. 7654.