GJP protests at fair

On a floor teeming with bankers, lawyers, and prospective employees dressed to the nines, 10 students sat cross-legged, heads bowed, and hands folded in silent prayer. Though they appeared out of place at the 2007 career fair in Conte Forum, the kneeling Global Justice Project members were there for a very explicit purpose: to protest the presence of leading military contractor BAE systems at the fair.

Rows of protestors lined both sides of the path leading up to the BAE systems booth, while other participants passed out flyers carrying statistics on the company. A small group of professors, as well as a Jesuit priest, stood on hand to support the cause.

"We're holding a silent protest against BAE systems. We feel they have no place in a Catholic university" said Daniel Lane, A&S '10. "We have the right to demonstrate and make our voices heard, even if the administration doesn't agree."

Though four career fair protests have taken place in the past four years, members of the Boston College faculty and Jesuit order have only participated in the last two events.

Prasannan Parthasarathi, a history professor attending the fair in support of the GJP protestors, said, "The career fair should be consistent with the views of Boston College. It shouldn't support these corporations that are purveyors of death. Boston College, with its Jesuit values, supports life and education of the whole person."

Though the protest turned heads, it obstructed neither the BAE systems booth nor booths in the surrounding area. In fact, representatives from BAE systems found the opposite to be true.

"It's actually interesting; the protest doesn't discourage people from coming up at all. It's actually been stimulating interest in our table. At BAE we're proud of what we do with national defense, and we respect their right to disagree with that. This is just their way of expressing their disagreement," said Jim Duggan, a BAE representative.

Jennifer Heddle, a representative working for neighboring booth Anderson Windows and Doors, commented in a similar manner when asked if the protest that the GJP had staged was disrupting her company's recruiting operations.

"We actually found the opposite to be true. The protest seems to be peaceful and it's attracting more people and interest to our area," Heddle said.

The fact that the protest was peaceable in nature, however, does not alter the fact that the Global Justice Project demonstrated without first obtaining a permit.

This was not, however, for lack of foresight or organization. The GJP elected not to apply for a permit to protest, citing "the University's frighteningly clear pattern of censoring student groups and infringing on their right to dissent and free expression on campus." They instead issued to the administration a "student demonstration permit."

The text of this permit read, in part, "not only do we believe we have an obligation to peacefully demonstrate the presence of weapons manufacturers on our campus, but we believe that dialogue and free exchange of ideas are vital to the academic setting of any university that claims to espouse the values of scholarship and higher education … students that have been deeply impacted by our university's call for peace and social justice, we have learned not to stand idly by in the face of violence and injustice . . . Weapons manufacturers reap financial gain from violent and deadly global conflict. Their success as a corporation depends not on global peace and security, but continued global unrest and everlasting war . . . We must ask is Boston College supporting organizations that are helping to build the Kingdom of God, or create the deadly bombs to destroy it?"

The administration took an approach similar to the one they employed last year when the GJP put on a comparable display, allowing the protest to continue without authorization.

"We issued a student permit, and we were told by ODSD that we could stay," Lane said.

Dean for the Office of Student Development Paul Chebator agreed: "They're not disrupting University business. They are peaceable and quiet. We gave verbal permission based on a request."

When asked whether allowing the protest to take place without permission undermined the permit policy in any way, Chebator said, "It's important to have flexibility." He said that BC's policy will most likely be reevaluated in the coming year in the midst of the upcoming ODSD reorganization.

As the GJP protest was not interfering with traffic or permitting people from approaching the booths, administrators saw little reason to deter the demonstrators from their cause. The permit policy for protests is not intended to censor, but to give administration more control over the time of the demonstration in order to prevent protests from interfering with University business, according to Chebator.

The GJP's demonstrations have not always been in accord with the school's wishes. In 2005, GJP planned to protest the presence of Raytheon, a weapons manufacturer, at the University's fair. The organization spoke with University administrators to obtain permission to stage its demonstration. Though a permit was properly attained, the University was unaware that the GJP had planned to put on an elaborate dramatic display.

From an entry made by Katrina King, BC '07, on the GJP Web site in 2005, the planned display was to involve faux Raytheon workers who were assembling a missile as well as a bomb scene, "complete with bodies and debris."