SDS to hold first protest of year Friday

By Samantha Pirc, Campus Life writer

September 27, 2007 | 4:27 p.m.

Students for a Democratic Society is starting the year off strong with a protest planned for Friday, Sept. 28 at 3 p.m.

SDS member Amanda Catron said that the protest is loosely titled “Listen to Us” and is meant to ask administrators to actually listen to advice from students, faculty and union workers and act on it this year.

SDS invited other groups on campus to meet with its members at the Civil War monument on College Green. Anyone who attends will have a chance to hear different speakers and then join SDS as its members walk over to Walter Hall, where the Board of Trustees will be having a luncheon.

SDS publicly stated recently that it supports the union members who were laid off by the university. The University cited budget constraints as the reason. Their rehiring will be a subject at Friday's protest.

Disputes over free speech zones and the right to assembly at certain places on campus caused tension between the administration and students last year.

“ We want to start the year with a clean slate,” Catron said.

Catron said that this protest will be different than last year's, which almost resulted in student arrests because the Ohio University Police Department was alerted to the event ahead of time.

SDS is a student activist group on campus that tackles a variety of issues, including the Iraq war and free speech on campus.

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Find out more about SDS at http://www.newsds.org.