Students head for Georgia to protest School of Americas
Stephanie Scalise
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: News
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Five NDNU students and two members of staff and faculty will be protesting against the training of terrorists at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., on Nov. 16-18.
They include Ismat Yassim, Mallory Barr, Andres Caballero, Erica Spacher, Diana Enriques, Dr. Bobby Vaughn and Richard Rossi.
The School of the Americas, which was renamed in 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, has taught nearly 60,000 Latin Americans over the past 59 years in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence, interrogation tactics and torture techniques. Its opponents claim the graduates have used these skills against their own people.
Every year an organization called the School of the Americas Watch holds a non-violent protest against the school. According to Kathryn Racine-Jones, director of the NDNU's Center of Spirituality and Social Change, the students and faculty representing NDNU will attend a two-day presentation about non-violent social transformation. Following the presentation will be the annual vigil and funeral procession at the gates of the school; it will be a non-violent protest.
Racine-Jones says that the protest against the School of the Americas is the same fight as that of Sr. Dorothy Stang who was fighting against corporate greed in Brazil when she was killed.
"Essentially the story is being repeated all over the world. I see a direct connection between Dorothy Stang and the School of Americas."
Last year the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOAW, came to NDNU to share his experiences and to urge people to help in this peaceful protest.
"I felt like people were really moved by his experience and what he had to say," said Racine-Jones.
"My goal is to make sure students get involved whether it be locally, nationally, or globally. I feel this was a really good fit with our mission at the university as well as the mission of the Dorothy Stang Center."
You can find more information about the protest at.
They include Ismat Yassim, Mallory Barr, Andres Caballero, Erica Spacher, Diana Enriques, Dr. Bobby Vaughn and Richard Rossi.
The School of the Americas, which was renamed in 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, has taught nearly 60,000 Latin Americans over the past 59 years in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence, interrogation tactics and torture techniques. Its opponents claim the graduates have used these skills against their own people.
Every year an organization called the School of the Americas Watch holds a non-violent protest against the school. According to Kathryn Racine-Jones, director of the NDNU's Center of Spirituality and Social Change, the students and faculty representing NDNU will attend a two-day presentation about non-violent social transformation. Following the presentation will be the annual vigil and funeral procession at the gates of the school; it will be a non-violent protest.
Racine-Jones says that the protest against the School of the Americas is the same fight as that of Sr. Dorothy Stang who was fighting against corporate greed in Brazil when she was killed.
"Essentially the story is being repeated all over the world. I see a direct connection between Dorothy Stang and the School of Americas."
Last year the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOAW, came to NDNU to share his experiences and to urge people to help in this peaceful protest.
"I felt like people were really moved by his experience and what he had to say," said Racine-Jones.
"My goal is to make sure students get involved whether it be locally, nationally, or globally. I feel this was a really good fit with our mission at the university as well as the mission of the Dorothy Stang Center."
You can find more information about the protest at
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