A group of Syracuse University students and community members gathered in the ROTC lounge on Tuesday afternoon to protest the encroachment of the military on campus spaces.

“SU should be an educational space and a lot of the university’s goals and missions conflict with this military presence,” said Ben Kuebrich, a graduate composition and cultural rhetoric student who participated in the protest.

The group of about seven protesters met outside Archbold Gymnasium, which houses the ROTC offices, at noon before heading upstairs to stage a “work-in” in the lounge.

The group was not specifically protesting the ROTC, but war and the militarization of campus in general. The protest was partly in response to the upcoming 11th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan on Oct. 7, Kuebrich said.

Many of the protesters were graduate students who have to work in cramped rooms and offices with poor access to materials, and the group wanted to “take back” the space for educational purposes, said Derek Ford, one of the protesters and a graduate student in the School of Education.

“We want to transform the space into something accessible to all students,” he said. “We’re reclaiming it as an academic space.”

Upon entering the ROTC offices, the group of protesters was greeted by ROTC staff and a group of about five ROTC members who happened to be studying in the lounge. The protesters took seats in the lounge and began to do schoolwork alongside the ROTC members. While some of the ROTC members and protesters chose to quietly go about their work, others chose to engage in conversation.

The discussion that followed would not have been out of place in a political science or international relations discussion section. Each participant made polite but impassioned statements of their views, and voices rarely rose above normal speaking level.

Topics of discussion ranged from the allocation of space on campus to the invasion of Iraq, to reasons for joining ROTC.

Tyler Cowan, a senior Middle Eastern studies and political science major and ROTC member, said he had no problem with the protesters utilizing the space and the two groups had a good discussion.

“They asked some pretty tough questions and we tried to answer them,” he said. “But most of us are under 21 and we’re being asked these very difficult policy questions.”

One of the protesters’ main criticisms of ROTC was that it takes advantage of the economic crisis by offering free tuition and health benefits in exchange for military service. That money should instead be used to enable all students to attend college, said Ursula Rozum, a Syracuse resident and the Green Party candidate for the 24th Congressional District.

Lt. Col. Michael Kubala, a professor of military science, said this is the first protest inside the ROTC facilities since he’s been at SU. He said he was fine with the protesters using the space and that the Constitution gives them the right to do that. But he said he disagrees with the protesters’ view of ROTC.

“We teach leadership. Same thing as the business and public affairs guys do,” he said, noting that ROTC members are also students.

Ian Merritt, a senior American history and psychology major and ROTC member, was unfazed by the presence of the protestors.

“I know it sounds cliche,” he said. “But we fight for their right to do this.”

Published on September 5, 2012 at 2:29 am

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta