By By Tejal Patel
On a day when students, faculty, politicians and journalists were honoring the 42nd president of the United States, one group cried out that he was not doing enough.
Hours before former President Bill Clinton arrived at the University Thursday to kick off a presidential conference in his honor, University faculty and student associates, involved with Long Island Teachers for Human Rights (LITHR), filled the Student Center atrium carrying pictures and brief biographies and reading names of soldiers who had died overseas.
Margaret Melkonian, alumnus and member of the LITHR said in remembrance of Veteran’s Day, the group is “calling on the Clintons to speak out against the war.”
The group also prepared a letter to addressed to Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton, asking them to take action against the “illegal and unprovoked invasion of Iraq.”
This protest against President George Bush and his administration is not a novel trend as students and faculty at colleges and universities across the nation have been taking advantage of their First Amendment right to free speech.
On Oct. 3., students at Ohio University in Athens, Oh., staged a peaceful anti-Bush walk out. The rally and march was comprised of about 150 students, faculty and town residents.
On Nov. 3, Seattle Washington College staged a citywide student protest that included students from the college, students from a local high school and community members. The protest was contingent with the “walk-outs” going on around the country.
Although Richard Himelfarb, a political science professor at the University, said disagreeing with Bush is a legitimate act, he said the demonstrators were not clear in their judgments.
“The group of faculty opposing Bush hate him so much, but they are using the Clinton conference to denounce Clinton for not denouncing Bush,” he said.
He said the protesters consist of “faculty who are either completely ignorant of the fact or who lack the ability to put these events in the proper perspective.”
Even though there have been no demonstrations on the same scale as Ohio University, students as well as faculty harbor different views on Bush’s leadership.
A political science professor at the University who wished to remain anonymous said seminars and protests were held at the University a few years ago against the war in Iraq at the start of Bush’s preemptive strike.
Hofstra Democrats prefer other forms of protest to express their opinions rather than marching and rallying. Doug Thomas, president of the Hofstra Democrats, said the group is laid back” in expressing their discontent in bundles of letters.
“People knowing of the situation is the biggest form of protest,” Thomas added.
The closest Hofstra Democrats has come to protesting was when the group held a candlelight vigil mourning the loss of the 2004 presidential elections.
“The students have every right to do what they want and express what they want, but they should thank the Founding Fathers that have allowed them to rant about everything they dislike about this country,” Lauren Maher, chairwoman of College Republicans, said.
The one time College Republicans took part in a counter protest was at the Anti-War rally held on campus before the war in Iraq started. This was a cause the College Republicans strongly believed in.
“Going to war and staying on the offensive was the right thing to do,” Maher added.
She said College Republicans are not concerned with people protesting because they hate Bush, it is a rant they hear all the time on campus, as well as in classrooms.
“Not everything is perfect in any administration, no matter Democrat or Republican, but these people that protest should be grateful that we aren’t living in the conditions that they think we are living in as if we were under Castro or Chavez,” Maher said. “If protesting makes them feel better, then they are more than free to do what they want, but I don’t feel any response is necessary.”

Members of Long Island Teachers for Human Rights demonstrate against the war in Iraq and honor fallen soldiers on Thursday during former president Bill Clinton’s visit to the University. (Elizabeth Pierdominici/The Chronicle)